Can S, Macfarlane T, O'Brien K D
Department of Dental Medicine and Surgery, University Dental Hospital of Manchester, Higher Cambridge Street, Manchester M15 6FH.
Br Dent J. 2003 Aug 23;195(4):199-201; discussion 196. doi: 10.1038/sj.bdj.4810443.
To evaluate the effect of issuing a patient reminder plus a confirmation slip on the attendance of orthodontic new patients.
Department of Orthodontics, University Dental Hospital of Manchester.
A randomised controlled trial.
New patients were randomly allocated to:receive a reminder letter and return a confirmation slip ornot receive a reminder.
Patient attendance at the clinic.
A total of 232 patients were entered into the study between June 18, 2001 and August 29, 2001. These were randomly allocated to 115 (49.8%) in the reminder group and 116 (50.2%) in the no reminder group. If the patient received a reminder and returned the confirmation they were less likely to fail the appointment than if they did not receive a reminder (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2 to 0.96) There was an effect of social deprivation, if the patients lived in an area of high social deprivation they were 2.7 (95% CI 1.1 to 6.5) times more likely to fail to attend an appointment than people who were more affluent.
The use of postal reminders for orthodontic consultation appointments appears to result in a useful increase of appointments that are kept or cancelled in advance.
评估发放患者提醒函及确认回执对正畸新患者就诊率的影响。
曼彻斯特大学牙科医院正畸科。
一项随机对照试验。
新患者被随机分为两组：一组收到提醒函并返回确认回执，另一组不接收提醒。
患者到诊所就诊情况。
2001年6月18日至2001年8月29日期间，共有232名患者纳入研究。这些患者被随机分为提醒组115名（49.8%）和无提醒组116名（50.2%）。与未收到提醒的患者相比，收到提醒并返回确认回执的患者错过预约的可能性更小（比值比0.4，95%可信区间0.2至0.96）。存在社会剥夺效应，生活在社会剥夺程度高的地区的患者错过预约的可能性是较富裕人群的2.7倍（95%可信区间1.1至6.5）。
使用邮寄提醒函进行正畸咨询预约似乎能有效提高预约就诊或提前取消预约的比例。
