-
Effectiveness of mobile-phone short message service (SMS) reminders for ophthalmology outpatient appointments : observational studyKoshy, Elizabeth ; Car, Josip ; Majeed, AzeemBackground: Non-attendance for hospital outpatient appointments is a significant problem in many countries. It causes suboptimal use of clinical and administrative staff and financial losses, as well ... as longer waiting times. The use of Short Message Service (SMS) appointment reminders potentially offers a cost-effective and time-efficient strategy to decrease non-attendance and so improve the efficiency of outpatient healthcare delivery. Methods: An SMS text message was sent to patients with scheduled appointments between April and September 2006 in a hospital ophthalmology department in London, reminding them of their appointments. This group acted as the intervention group. Controls were patients with scheduled ophthalmology appointments who did not receive an SMS or any alternative reminder. Results: During the period of the study, 11.2% (50/447) of patients who received an SMS appointment reminder were non-attenders, compared to 18.1%(1720/9512) who did not receive an SMS reminder. Non-attendance rates were 38% lower in patients who received an SMS reminder than in patients who did not receive a reminder (RR of non-attendance = 0.62; 95% CI = 0.48 - 0.80). Conclusion: The use of SMS reminders for ophthalmology outpatient appointments was associated with a reduction of 38% in the likelihood of patients not attending their appointments, compared to no appointment reminder. The use of SMS reminders may also be more cost-effective than traditional appointment reminders and require less labour. These findings should be confirmed with a more rigorous study design before a wider roll-out.Source: BMC ophthalmology [Elektronski vir]. - ISSN 1471-2415 (Letn. 8, 2008, str. 9 (1-6))Type of material - article, component partPublish date - 2008Language - englishCOBISS.SI-ID - 24633561
Author
Koshy, Elizabeth |
Car, Josip |
Majeed, Azeem
Topics
Appointments And Schedules |
Delivery Of Health Care |
Methods |
Eye Diseases |
Therapy |
London |
Ophthalmology |
Methods |
Outpatients |
Statistics & Numerical Data |
Patient Compliance |
Statistics & Numerical Data |
Retrospective Studies |
Naročanje in razpored |
London |
Očesne bolezni |
Bolnik, sodelovanje |
Bolniki ambulantni |
Retrospektivne študije |
Oftalmologija |
Zdravstveno varstvo, sistemi
Shelf entry
Permalink
- URL:
Impact factor
Access to the JCR database is permitted only to users from Slovenia. Your current IP address is not on the list of IP addresses with access permission, and authentication with the relevant AAI accout is required.
Year | Impact factor | Edition | Category | Classification | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
JCR | SNIP | JCR | SNIP | JCR | SNIP | JCR | SNIP |
Select the library membership card:
DRS, in which the journal is indexed
Database name | Field | Year |
---|
Links to authors' personal bibliographies | Links to information on researchers in the SICRIS system |
---|---|
Koshy, Elizabeth | |
Car, Josip | 18329 |
Majeed, Azeem |
Select pickup location:
Material pickup by post
Notification
Subject headings in COBISS General List of Subject Headings
Select pickup location
Pickup location | Material status | Reservation |
---|
Please wait a moment.