Non-attendance in paediatric outpatient clinics, text reminder versus conventional system; a randomised control trial

The effect of SMS appointment reminders on non-attendance rates in paediatric outpatient clinics

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12617001024336

Enrollment

646

Registered

2017-07-14

Start date

2017-04-13

Completion date

2017-05-10

Last updated

2017-08-21

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

This is a single blind randomised control trial conducted in Paediatric Clinic Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (Hospital USM). The main objectives are the determine the non-attendance rate in our Paediatric Clinics and to assess the non-attendance rate in the intervention group and the control group. The respondents are the parents of paediatric patients. In the intervention group, they will receive an SMS reminder 1 week prior to the appointment and the control group will receive no reminder. A randomisation generated by a software will be used, and the primary investigator will be blinded by the allocation and outcome. A proforma containing an active mobile phone number including level of education and salary will be utilised for this study. Pearson Chi Square will be used to evaluate the intervention with the outcome. There is a 15.6% statistically significant reduction in the non-attendance rate in the intervention group. However the is no statistical significance in the level of education and salary to the non-attendance. SMS reminder is an effective way to improve the non-attendance rate. The association of poor socioeconomic status with poor attendance in the previous trials was not reproducible in this trial.

Interventions

Intervention - Parents of participants will receive SMS reminder 1 week prior to scheduled appointment. This SMS will be sent by a hired Research Assistant 1 week before the appointment. The content of this SMS will include date and time of the appointment in Malay language.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Parallel

Primary purpose

Treatment

Masking

Blinded (masking used) (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

1. Any patient that requires new appointment and pre-existing patients that require further appointments 2. Parents must have an active mobile phone number for contact purposes.

Exclusion criteria

1. frequent clinic defaulters 2. high risk patients e.g. poorly controlled asthma/epilepsy

Outcome results