Improving the No-Show Rate of New Patients in Outpatient Psychiatric Practice: An Advance Practice Nurse-Initiated Telephone Engagement Protocol Quality Improvement Project.

Abstract

The aim is to improve the uptake of psychiatric services for new patients being referred from primary care, counseling, and hospital discharge follow-up care. A convenience sample of 18 new patients participated in a provider-initiated telephone protocol to increase knowledge related to psychiatric treatment and remind patients of appointments the day before the initial visit. Fifteen patients attended the initial visit, resulting in a 26% reduction rate of no-show rates from 27% the previous year to 20% in a 3-month period. Introduction and reminder calls by psychiatric providers improve no-show rates.