Missed appointments at maternal healthcare clinics in primary healthcare centres in Riyadh city: reasons and associated factors

Abstract

Background: The issue of missed appointments at maternal healthcare clinics in primary healthcare centers (PHCCs) has received increasing attention in recent years. The significant relationship between missed appointments and access to maternal healthcare has been recognized around the world. Missed appointments have serious health and economic consequences for women seeking maternal healthcare at PHCCs. Objectives:The objectives of this research were 1) to critically explore the reasons for and socio-demographic factors associated with missed appointments at maternal healthcare clinics at PHCCs; and 2) to provide recommendations for health policy that might help to eliminate the problem of "no-show" maternal patients. Methods:Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the responses of 250 women regarding demographics, as well as their reasons for missing appointments and their preferences regarding appointment confirmation at maternal healthcare clinics at five PHCCs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Results:The most frequent reasons associated with missed appointments reported by women included a lack of supplies and medical equipment, such as ultrasound machines, the unavailability of transportation and a lack of respect from PHCC staff. Conclusion:Developing easily accessible, flexible, interactive appointment systems with reminder/recall, providing means of transportation, providing training courses to PHCC employees on how to address these women and the provision of necessary medical equipment and facilities, such as ultrasound machines to all PHCCs are highly recommended to reduce the occurrence of missed appointments at maternal healthcare clinics at PHCCs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Effect of enhanced reminders on postnatal clinic attendance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a cluster randomized controlled trial

“…More than, 90% of the mothers were positive about getting reminders for their PNC appointment. This finding was in line with several studies done in other places [40,[50][51][52][53]. This finding was higher compared to study done in Ilorin Nigeria, which showed 69% acceptance of reminders for immunization service [54].…”

Missed medical appointment among hypertensive and diabetic outpatients in a tertiary healthcare facility in Ibadan, Nigeria

“…This is similar to the low level of awareness of the impact of missed appointment reported in a study in maternal healthcare clinics in Saudi Arabia [23]. Improved and continuous patient education on the importance of follow-up visits will significantly influence adherence to aspect of disease management as well as improve selfmanagement practices and treatment outcomes [24].…”

Individual and healthcare system factors influencing antenatal care attendance in Saudi Arabia

“…As the study was exploratory and novel in terms of a lack of previous research in this region on this topic, the preferred sample size was calculated by examining the sample size of the one published quantitative research study examining reasons for antenatal care attendance in Saudi Arabia (n = 200) 10 and a sample size power calculation. Based on the number of women who on average give birth each year in the selected hospitals, the inclusion and exclusion criteria and the period of data collection it was determined that a sample size of at least 235 was required to give sufficient power to the study at 95% confidence and 5% margin of error.…”

“…Understanding why women are not attending ANC in Saudi Arabia is a government priority but research exploring this issue is sparse. For example, one interview-based study identified a perceived lack of respectful communication from staff and clinics that were not well equipped 10 Conversely, other research in the area has simply focussed on exploring whether mothers value care rather than barriers to attendance. Notably, each study examining this issue concluded that mothers did value care, suggesting further barriers are likely to be preventing attendance [11][12][13] In a previous study we conducted qualitative interviews with pregnant and mothers who had missed at least one ANC appointment and health professionals working in ANC to understand perceptions on why appointments were missed 14 .…”