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A telephone call reminder to improve outpatient attendance in patients referred from the emergency department: a randomised controlled trial
Author(s) -
Ritchie P. D.,
Jenkins M.,
Cameron P. A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 0004-8291
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-5994.2000.tb00860.x
Subject(s) - medicine , attendance , emergency department , intervention (counseling) , outpatient clinic , telephone call , randomized controlled trial , family medicine , clinical trial , medical emergency , emergency medicine , psychiatry , surgery , engineering , electrical engineering , economics , economic growth
Background : Poor compliance with attendance at outpatient clinic appointments in patients referred from emergency departments (EDs) is a major problem in public hospitals. Aims : To determine whether the intervention of a telephone call within three days of ED attendance would improve: 1. the proportion of patients making recommended outpatient appointments; and 2. the proportion of patients attending scheduled appointments. To characterise reasons for non‐attendance at appointments made by patients referred from the ED. Methods : A randomised controlled trial was undertaken of 400 patients recommended to make outpatient appointments during attendance at The Royal Melbourne Hospital ED in July‐August 1999. Intervention: a telephone call one to three days after attendance to remind the patient about the appointment (and its importance for medical follow‐up) if one had been made and to offer to make an appointment if one had not been made. Outcome measures: 1. making the recommended appointment; 2. attendance at the scheduled appointment; and 3. reasons for non‐attendance at scheduled appointments. Results : The telephone intervention improved attendance at scheduled appointments from 54.4% to 70.7% ( p =0.002). The proportion of patients making appointments was not significandy affected. The commonest reasons given for non‐attendance were: attended general practitioner (13%), attended private specialist (6.6%), inpatient in hospital at time of appointment (6.6%), too busy or inconvenient (5.3%), claimed to have attended (5.3%) and did not differ by intervention. Conclusions : A significant improvement in the proportion of patients attending outpatients appointments can be made by a simple reminder telephone call one to three days after attendance at the ED.