Cohen C E, Coyne K M, Mandalia S, Waters A-M, Sullivan A K
HIV/GUM Directorate, St Stephen's Centre, Chelsea & Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.
Int J STD AIDS. 2008 Jan;19(1):12-3. doi: 10.1258/ijsa.2007.007149.
Faced with a national 48-hour waiting time target and high non-attendance rates for booked appointments, our sexual health service sought patient preferences for appointment reminders. Questionnaires were distributed to 350 consecutive genitourinary medicine clinic attendees. Eighty-eight percent of respondents approved of appointment reminders, with text messaging being the preferred option. Automated voicemail reminders to mobile phones were acceptable to 84%. Patients would generally choose a voicemail reminder to their mobile phone as opposed to home or work phone, and this preference was more pronounced in younger patients (P = 0.03). The majority of patients considered reminders two or three days in advance sufficient notice, with 98% owning a mobile phone. Text or voicemail reminders may significantly reduce non-attendance rates and their associated costs, improve accessibility and reduce waiting times.
面对全国48小时等待时间目标以及预约门诊的高失约率，我们的性健康服务机构探寻患者对预约提醒方式的偏好。对连续就诊于泌尿生殖医学门诊的350名患者发放了调查问卷。88%的受访者赞成预约提醒，其中短信是首选方式。84%的人接受自动语音邮件提醒至手机。与家庭电话或工作电话相比，患者通常会选择手机语音邮件提醒，且这种偏好在年轻患者中更为明显（P = 0.03）。大多数患者认为提前两三天提醒就足够了，98%的患者拥有手机。短信或语音邮件提醒可能会显著降低失约率及其相关成本，提高可及性并减少等待时间。
