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Weekday Affects Attendance Rate for Medical Appointments: Large-Scale Data Analysis and Implications

The financial cost of missed appointments is so great that even a small percentage reduction in Did Not Attend (DNA) rate could save significant sums of money. Previous studies have identified many factors that predict DNA rate, including patient age, gender, and transport options. However, it is no...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ellis, David A., Jenkins, Rob
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3521765/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23272102
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051365
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author Ellis, David A.
Jenkins, Rob
author_facet Ellis, David A.
Jenkins, Rob
author_sort Ellis, David A.
collection PubMed
description The financial cost of missed appointments is so great that even a small percentage reduction in Did Not Attend (DNA) rate could save significant sums of money. Previous studies have identified many factors that predict DNA rate, including patient age, gender, and transport options. However, it is not obvious how healthcare providers can use this information to improve attendance, as such factors are not under their control. One factor that is under administrative control is appointment scheduling. Here we asked whether DNA rate could be reduced by altering scheduling policy. In Study 1, we examined attendance records for 4,538,294 outpatient hospital appointments across Scotland between January 1st 2008 and December 31st 2010. DNA rate was highest for Mondays (11%), lowest for Fridays (9.7%), and decreased monotonically over the week (Monday-Friday comparison [χ(2)(1, N  = 1,585,545)  = 722.33, p<0.0001]; Relative Risk Reduction 11.8%). This weekly decline was present for male and female patient groups of all ages, but was steeper for younger age groups. In Study 2, we examined attendance records for 10,895 appointments at a single GP clinic in Glasgow. Here again, DNA rate was highest for Mondays (6.2%), lowest for Fridays (4.2%), and decreased monotonically over the week (Monday-Friday comparison [χ(2)(1, N  = 4767)  = 9.20, p<0.01]; Relative Risk Reduction 32.3%). In two very different settings, appointments at the beginning of the week were more likely to be missed than appointments at the end of the week. We suggest that DNA rate could be significantly reduced by preferentially loading appointments onto high-attendance days.
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spelling pubmed-35217652012-12-27 Weekday Affects Attendance Rate for Medical Appointments: Large-Scale Data Analysis and Implications Ellis, David A. Jenkins, Rob PLoS One Research Article The financial cost of missed appointments is so great that even a small percentage reduction in Did Not Attend (DNA) rate could save significant sums of money. Previous studies have identified many factors that predict DNA rate, including patient age, gender, and transport options. However, it is not obvious how healthcare providers can use this information to improve attendance, as such factors are not under their control. One factor that is under administrative control is appointment scheduling. Here we asked whether DNA rate could be reduced by altering scheduling policy. In Study 1, we examined attendance records for 4,538,294 outpatient hospital appointments across Scotland between January 1st 2008 and December 31st 2010. DNA rate was highest for Mondays (11%), lowest for Fridays (9.7%), and decreased monotonically over the week (Monday-Friday comparison [χ(2)(1, N  = 1,585,545)  = 722.33, p<0.0001]; Relative Risk Reduction 11.8%). This weekly decline was present for male and female patient groups of all ages, but was steeper for younger age groups. In Study 2, we examined attendance records for 10,895 appointments at a single GP clinic in Glasgow. Here again, DNA rate was highest for Mondays (6.2%), lowest for Fridays (4.2%), and decreased monotonically over the week (Monday-Friday comparison [χ(2)(1, N  = 4767)  = 9.20, p<0.01]; Relative Risk Reduction 32.3%). In two very different settings, appointments at the beginning of the week were more likely to be missed than appointments at the end of the week. We suggest that DNA rate could be significantly reduced by preferentially loading appointments onto high-attendance days. Public Library of Science 2012-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC3521765/ /pubmed/23272102 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051365 Text en © 2012 Ellis, Jenkins http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Ellis, David A.
Jenkins, Rob
Weekday Affects Attendance Rate for Medical Appointments: Large-Scale Data Analysis and Implications
title Weekday Affects Attendance Rate for Medical Appointments: Large-Scale Data Analysis and Implications
title_full Weekday Affects Attendance Rate for Medical Appointments: Large-Scale Data Analysis and Implications
title_fullStr Weekday Affects Attendance Rate for Medical Appointments: Large-Scale Data Analysis and Implications
title_full_unstemmed Weekday Affects Attendance Rate for Medical Appointments: Large-Scale Data Analysis and Implications
title_short Weekday Affects Attendance Rate for Medical Appointments: Large-Scale Data Analysis and Implications
title_sort weekday affects attendance rate for medical appointments: large-scale data analysis and implications
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3521765/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23272102
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051365
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