Non-attendance at a university-based psychology clinic: Telephone appointment reminders versus no reminders

Conduit, Tiffany; Byrne, Stuart; Court, Joan; Stefanovic, S.

doi:10.1080/00050060410001660362

Cited by 15 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…There was a statistically significant improvement in attendance in this early randomised controlled trial. Similar positive results have since been reported for first attenders by Burgoyne et al (1983), MacDonald et al (2000) and Conduit et al (2004), and for both first attenders and follow-up patients by Shivack & Sullivan (1989) and for follow-up patients by Bamford et al (2004), the latter using both telephone and postal reminders with alcohol misusers. Telephone reminders seem to be particularly effective for elderly patients, especially those with dementia (Dockery et al, 2001).…”

Section: Reminder and Memory Aidssupporting

confidence: 69%

“…Telephone reminders seem to be particularly effective for elderly patients, especially those with dementia (Dockery et al, 2001). Messages left on an answerphone can also be successful (Conduit et al, 2004). McFall et al (2000) conducted a pilot outreach intervention for combat veterans receiving disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder but not receiving treatment.…”

Section: Reminder and Memory Aidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Why don't patients attend their appointments? Maintaining engagement with psychiatric services

Mitchell¹,

Selmes²

2007

Adv. psychiatr. treat

242

254

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Patients miss about 20% of scheduled appointments for mental health treatment, almost twice the rate in other medical specialties. Up to 50% of patients who miss appointments drop out of scheduled care. Many who miss appointments because of slips and lapses later rearrange their appointments without adverse consequences. Those that do not are at risk of further deterioration, relapse and hospital readmission. Predictors of non-attendance are complex and linked with the predictors of missed medication. Service barriers and administrative errors are common but are often overlooked in the absence of feedback from patients. Of prime importance are the therapeutic alliance and degree of ‘helpfulness’ of the clinician but again these are rarely measured routinely. Useful markers of engagement include patient-rated trust, satisfaction and degree of perceived participation in treatment decisions. Much can be done to improve attendance in most services. Simple measures such as offering prompt, convenient appointments, offering reminders and augmenting with telephone contact have a reasonable evidence base. Scales to assess therapeutic alliance are now available. Complex interventions need to be evaluated carefully in order that the overall benefits outweigh costs. We suggest that clinicians consider accessibility, discharge policies and patient feedback when examining local rates of non-attendance.

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Section: Reminder and Memory Aidssupporting

confidence: 69%

Section: Reminder and Memory Aidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why don't patients attend their appointments? Maintaining engagement with psychiatric services

Mitchell¹,

Selmes²

2007

Adv. psychiatr. treat

242

254

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The use of telephone reminders prior to scheduled psychotherapy appointments significantly reduces TR (Kluger & Karras, 1983; Macdonald, Brown & Ellis, 2000), but has no effect on PT (Conduit, Byrne, Court & Stefanovic, 2004). Telephone appointment conformation by the treating therapist does not significantly reduce PT, when compared to matched clerical contact or no contact (Hershorn & Rivas, 1993).…”

Section: Narrative Overview Of Strategies To Promote Psychotherapy Atmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both studies asked participants to visualise themselves walking into the therapy centre and talking to their META-ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY ATTENDANCE 6 therapist. Although this strategy significantly reduced TR in the intervention group for Sherman and Anderson (1987), this effect was not replicated by Buckner et al (2009).A commonly employed TR and PT strategy in medical settings is telephone contact prior to appointments (see Macheira, Leon, Rowe, Stephenson & Haynes, 1992, for a meta-analysis).The use of telephone reminders prior to scheduled psychotherapy appointments significantly reduces TR (Kluger & Karras, 1983; Macdonald, Brown & Ellis, 2000), but has no effect on PT (Conduit, Byrne, Court & Stefanovic, 2004). Telephone appointment conformation by the treating therapist does not significantly reduce PT, when compared to matched clerical contact or no contact (Hershorn & Rivas, 1993).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to increase attendance at psychotherapy: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Oldham¹,

Kellett²,

Miles³

et al. 2012

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

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Objective: Rates of non-attendance for psychotherapy hinder the effective delivery of evidencebased treatments. Although many strategies have been developed to increase attendance, the effectiveness of these strategies has not been quantified. The aim of the present study was to undertake a meta-analysis of rigorously controlled studies to quantify the effects of interventions to promote psychotherapy attendance.Method: The inclusion criteria were that studies (1) concerned attendance at individual or group psychotherapy by adults, (2) used a randomised controlled trial design to test an attendance strategy, and (3) used an objective measure of attendance. Computerised literature searches and hand searching resulted in a total of 31 RCTs that involved 33 independent tests of strategies for reducing treatment refusal and premature termination (N = 4,422). Effect sizes from individual studies were meta-analysed and moderator analyses were conducted.Results: Interventions had a small-to-medium effect on attendance across studies (d + = .38).Interventions to reduce treatment refusal and premature termination were similarly effective (d + = .37 and .39, respectively). Choice of appointment time or therapist, motivational interventions, preparation for psychotherapy, informational interventions, attendance reminders, and case management were the most effective strategies. Diagnosis also moderated effect sizes; samples with a single diagnosis benefited more from attendance interventions than samples that had a variety of diagnoses.Conclusions: Interventions to increase attendance at adult psychotherapy are moderately effective.However, relatively few studies met the strict study inclusion criteria. Further methodologically sound and theoretically informed interventions geared at increasing attendance are required. META-ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY ATTENDANCE 3Interventions to Increase Attendance at Psychotherapy:A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials A substantial proportion of clinical time is wasted because of patient non-attendance at scheduled adult psychotherapy appointments (Pekarik, 1985). The financial costs of nonattendance are marked (Hicks & Hickman, 1995; Kleine, Stone, Hicks & Pritchard, 2003), with patients not receiving help (Joshi, Maisami & Coyle, 1986) and therapists losing confidence as a result (Sledge, Moras, Hartley & Levine, 1990). Service efficiency is impaired when nonattendance rates are high (Rusius, 1995). Garfield (1994) noted that some patients fail to attend at assessment and essentially reject treatment. Hampton-Robb, Qualls, and Compton (2003) estimated that such treatment refusal (TR) occurs for 40% of referrals, on average. Premature termination (PT) occurs when patients fail to complete agreed treatment contracts (i.e., they 'drop-out' of therapy). A meta-analysis of 123 studies reported a PT rate of 46.8% (Wierzbicki & Pekarik, 1993) across treatment modalities. High PT rates are troubling in light of evidence that PT is associated with poor clinical outcome (Barret...

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“…18,19,30,31 Nevertheless, even in practices with low baseline no-show rates, the risk of no-show is heterogeneous-that is, some patients are more likely of noshows than others. 9,10,28,29,[32][33][34] Prior work has effectively demonstrated that no-shows are predictable; validated models can accurately predict the likelihood that a patient will fail to keep a scheduled appointment. 9,[35][36][37][38] Subspecialty clinics have made use of the predictability of no-shows by integrating predictive modeling to target interventions to those at high risk of no-show.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Targeted Reminder Phone Calls to Patients at High Risk of No-Show for Primary Care Appointment: A Randomized Trial

et al. 2016

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BACKGROUND: No-shows, or missed appointments, are a problem for many medical practices. They result in fragmented care and reduce access for all patients. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether telephone reminder calls targeted to patients at high risk of no-show can reduce no-show rates. DESIGN: Single-center randomized controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2247 primary care patients in a hospital-based primary care clinic at high risk of no-show (>15 % risk) for their appointment in 7 days. INTERVENTION: Seven days prior to their appointment, intervention arm patients were placed in a calling queue to receive a reminder phone call from a patient service coordinator. Coordinators were trained to engage patients in concrete planning. All patients received an automated phone call (usual care). MAIN MEASURES: Primary outcome was no-show rate. Secondary outcomes included arrival rate, cancellation rate, reschedule rate, time to cancellation, and change in revenue. KEY RESULTS: The no-show rate in the intervention arm (22.8 %) was significantly lower (absolute risk difference −6.4 %, p < 0.01, 95 % CI [−9.8 to −3.0 %]) than that in the control arm (29.2 %). Arrival, cancellation, and reschedule rates did not differ significantly. In the intervention arm, rescheduling and cancellations occurred further in advance of the appointment (mean difference, 0.35 days; 95 % CI [0.07-0.64]; p = 0.01). Reimbursement did not differ significantly. CONCLUSIONS: A phone call 7 days prior to an appointment led to a significant reduction in no-shows and increased reimbursement among patients at high risk of noshow. The use of targeted interventions may be of interest to practices taking on increased accountability for population health.KEY WORDS: access to care; applied informatics; primary care redesign; behavior change; population health.

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Non-attendance at a university-based psychology clinic: Telephone appointment reminders versus no reminders

Cited by 15 publications

References 23 publications

Why don't patients attend their appointments? Maintaining engagement with psychiatric services

Why don't patients attend their appointments? Maintaining engagement with psychiatric services

Interventions to increase attendance at psychotherapy: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Targeted Reminder Phone Calls to Patients at High Risk of No-Show for Primary Care Appointment: A Randomized Trial

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