Abstract
Objectives To investigate missed appointments in Alhada Armed Forces hospitals (Prince Mansour hospital). Study Design Prospective, descriptive series. Setting ENT out-patients clinics. Method Analysis of the clinic attendance statistics to identify patients who missed appointments. Results Of 1275 patient booking over the duration of study, (60.30%) of patients kept their appointments at the clinics, while 40.70% missed appointments, and of the 519 patients, 16(3%) had no response to telephone calls or coming back to clinics. The youngest age group, 10 to 20 years, showed the highest rate of missed appointments, being 26.2%. Afternoon appointments had higher rate of no-show (63.5%) than morning (36.5%). Reasons given by no-show patients for missing their appointments are presented in figure (1). Unavailability of transportation constituted the highest proportion of reasons of no-show (26.4%) followed by forgetting the appointments (13.7%). The third frequently cited reason was work commitments (13.3 %). These three reasons represented of the (53.6%) of the total reasons of the no-show. Conclusion The 40.70% missed appointment rate is largely due to transport constraints. The authors seek to identify patients at risk of missed appointments and suggest interventions to decrease this incidence.
Highlights
Missed appointments are known to interfere with appropriate care of acute and chronic health conditions and with optimum utilization of facilities [1].A study conducted in the USA (2005) revealed that missed appointment was the most significant factor related to treatment failure [2]
Of the 1275 patients who had taken an appointment over the duration of the study, 60.30% kept their appointments at the clinic, whereas 40.70% missed appointments
We found a rate of 40.7% for missed appointments, whereas few comparative rates are reported in the literature
Summary
A study conducted in the USA (2005) revealed that missed appointment was the most significant factor related to treatment failure [2]. It deprives other patients of earlier appointments, which affect other patients’ quality of care. Missed appointments have significant impacts on the ability to provide efficient and effective outpatient services. It results in wasting financial and social costs [3,4,5]. With an effort to improve the efficiency and quality of services offered at the study hospital, the present study aimed at quantifying the burden of missed appointments and revealing the factors associated with it. Methods of improving the efficiency of the service we offer are considered
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