Factors affecting outpatient non‐attendance in an Australian children's hospital

Lessons Learnt from Rapid Implementation of Telehealth in a Paediatric Dietetics’ Outpatient Service: Is There a Silver Lining beyond the Coronavirus Pandemic to Support Patient-Centred Care?

“…It is possible that the advantages of telehealth such as convenience, time efficiency, the comfort of being at home, cost-effectiveness and easy access assisted participants to maintain appointment attendance [27]. Studies have also demonstrated that approximate face-toface attendance rates in Australian children's hospitals are 95% and 90.3% in Australia's general practices [28,29]. These rates are closely reflected in this research, with 100% median attendance rates for both pre and post periods.…”

“…Next, to reduce the DNA rate, it is recommended that healthcare professionals adopt the short message service (SMS). In fact, a study showed a 5.4% reduction in non-attendance in outpatient services at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital following the use of SMS [28]. In a population that has a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community, this strategy could be very effective.…”

“…In a population that has a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community, this strategy could be very effective. This is because studies have demonstrated that SMS reminders result in a reduction in DNA rates for non-English speaking patients and English speakers, 8.33% versus 4.1%, respectively [28]. Regarding virtual nutrition-focused physical examinations, it is recommended that whilst telehealth cannot take the place of face-to-face examinations [12], it may be necessary for dietitians to teach carers or parents of paediatric patients the skill of how to correctly take anthropometry measurements at home as this will produce more reliable growth tracking data for the patient [30,31].…”