Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21933898›Full record

SynthesisJournal of telemedicine and telecare2011

Use of telephone and SMS reminders to improve attendance at hospital appointments: a systematic review.

Per E Hasvold, Richard Wootton

Registry-linked trialAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of telemedicine and telecare, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07779161 (Effect of Reminder Strategies on No-Show Rates in a Nicotine Cessation Clinic), which is not on this map. Cited by 100 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
100citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT07779161 nanot yet recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

Effect of Reminder Strategies on No-Show Rates in a Nicotine Cessation Clinic: A Randomized Controlled Trial

TypeinterventionalSponsorMedical University of GdanskRan2026 to 2027Enrolled300ConditionsBehavioral Intervention, Nicotine AddictionArmsStandard phone call, phone call with MINDSPACE elements
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

100 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  7. The impact of mobile health interventions on chronic disease outcomes in developing countries: a systematic review.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2014
    Pooled it
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  11. Improving Follow-up Attendance for Discharged Emergency Care Patients Using Automated Phone System to Self-schedule: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine · 2021
    Trial
  12. HOW CAN NEW TECHNOLOGIES HELP REDUCE ABSENTEEISM IN PEDIATRIC CONSULTATION?Revista paulista de pediatria : orgao oficial da Sociedade de Pediatria de Sao Paulo · 2020
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  16. Shorter waiting times from education to colonoscopy can improve the quality of bowel preparation: A randomized controlled trial.The Turkish journal of gastroenterology : the official journal of Turkish Society of Gastroenterology · 2018
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40 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Per E HasvoldNorwegian Centre for Integrated Care and Telemedicine, University Hospital of North Norway, PO Box 6060, 9038 Tromsø, Norway. per.hasvold@telemed.no
Richard Wootton

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Patients failing to attend hospital appointments contribute to inefficient use of resources. We conducted a systematic review of studies providing a reminder to patients by phone, short message service (SMS) or automated phone calls. A PubMed search was conducted to identify articles published after 1999, describing studies of non-attendance at hospital appointments. In addition, we searched the references in the included papers. In total, 29 studies were included in the review. Four had two intervention arms which were treated as independent studies, giving a total of 33 estimates. The papers were analysed by two observers independently. A study quality score was developed and used to weight the data. Weighted means of the absolute and the relative changes in non-attendance were calculated. All studies except one reported a benefit from sending reminders to patients prior to their appointment. The synthesis suggests that the weighted mean relative change in non-attendance was 34% of the baseline non-attendance rate. Automated reminders were less effective than manual phone calls (29% vs 39% of baseline value). There appeared to be no difference in non-attendance rate, whether the reminder was sent the day before the appointment or the week before. Cost and savings were not measured formally in any of the papers, but almost half of them included cost estimates. The average cost of using either SMS, automated phone calls or phone calls was €0.41 per reminder. Although formal evidence of cost-effectiveness is lacking, the implication of the review is that all hospitals should consider using automated reminders to reduce non-attendance at appointments.

Indexed as

Appointments and SchedulesReminder SystemsCell PhoneHumansNorwayOutpatient Clinics, HospitalOutpatientsPatient Acceptance of Health CarePatient Compliance

Identifiers

PMID21933898
PMCPMC3188816

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.