Text-messaging to reduce missed appointment in a youth clinic: a randomised controlled trial

Narring, Françoise; Junod Perron, Noëlle Astrid; Dominice Dao, Mélissa; Camparini Righini, Nadia; Humair, Jean-Paul Luc André; Broers, Barbara; Gaspoz, Jean-Michel; Haller, Dagmar M.

doi:10.1136/jech-2013-202510

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Title		Text-messaging to reduce missed appointment in a youth clinic: a randomised controlled trial
Authors		Narring, Françoise Junod Perron, Noëlle Astrid Dominice Dao, Mélissa Camparini Righini, Nadia Humair, Jean-Paul Luc André Broers, Barbara Gaspoz, Jean-Michel Haller, Dagmar M.
Published in		Journal of epidemiology and community health. 2013, vol. 67, no. 10, p. 888-891
Abstract		BACKGROUND: To assess the effectiveness of text-messages in reducing the proportion of non-attendance in a youth clinic of a University Hospital. METHODS: Patients who registered for an appointment and provided a mobile phone number were randomly selected to receive or not a text-message reminder before the planned appointment. A 10% reduction in the proportion of missed appointments was considered clinically and economically useful and the study was powered accordingly. RESULTS: The proportion of missed appointments was 16.4% (95% CI 13.1% to 19.8%) in the text-message group (N 462) and 20.0% (95% CI 16.6% to 23.4%) in the control group (N 529), showing no significant effect of the intervention (p=0.346). CONCLUSIONS: In our primary care youth clinic, text-message reminders are not effective in reducing the proportion of missed appointments. This may in part be due to the fact that most patients are referred by a professional or by their parents and do not initiate appointments themselves.
Identifiers		DOI: 10.1136/jech-2013-202510 PMID: 23761412
Full text		Article (Published version) (197 Kb) - Limited access to UNIGE
Structures		Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine clinique / Département de santé et médecine communautaires
Research groups		Gastroentérologie et transplantation (pédiatrie) (181) Groupe Jean-Michel Gaspoz (23) Médecine de l'addiction (129) Médecine interne générale et pédiatrie ambulatoires (968)
Citation (ISO format)		NARRING, Françoise et al. Text-messaging to reduce missed appointment in a youth clinic: a randomised controlled trial. In: Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2013, vol. 67, n° 10, p. 888-891. doi: 10.1136/jech-2013-202510 https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:29219