Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22091980›Full record

SynthesisHealth services research2012

How effective are short message service reminders at increasing clinic attendance? A meta-analysis and systematic review.

Rebecca Guy, Jane Hocking, Handan Wand, Sam Stott, Hammad Ali, John Kaldor

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

Synthesis in Health services research, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01649934 (The Use of Implementation Intentions to Increase the Appointment Attendance of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom), which is not on this map. Cited by 149 papers, 16 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
149citing papers in PubMed, 16 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.

NCT01649934 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2013, after this paper: background citation

The Use of Implementation Intentions to Increase the Appointment Attendance of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans

TypeinterventionalSponsorVA Connecticut Healthcare SystemRan2013 to 2017Enrolled54ConditionsBrain InjuriesArmsImplementation Intention, Contact Clinic
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

149 citing papers in PubMed, 16 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Predictive model-based interventions to reduce outpatient no-shows: a rapid systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2023
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  11. Use of handheld computers in clinical practice: a systematic review.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2014
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  14. Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013
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  16. Mapping mHealth research: a decade of evolution.Journal of medical Internet research · 2013
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89 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Rebecca GuyThe Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia. rguy@kirby.unsw.edu.au
Jane Hocking
Handan Wand
Sam Stott
Hammad Ali
John Kaldor

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

objectivesIn the last few years there has been a steady uptake of mobile phone short message service (SMS) reminders to increase medical attendance rates. We undertook a review of studies that assessed the effectiveness of SMS reminders at increasing the uptake of appointments in health care settings.

methodsWe reviewed studies which involved a comparison of appointment attendance rates between patients who did and did not receive SMS reminders published prior to June 2010. We used meta-analysis methods to calculate the overall effect on attendance rates, stratified by study design and clinic type.

resultsThe review criteria were met by 18 reports, made up of eight randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 10 controlled observational studies. Across all studies, there was significant heterogeneity in the estimated effect measure of the relationship between use of SMS reminders and clinic attendance (I(2)  = 90 percent; p < .01), so a summary effect estimate was not calculated. Stratification by study design showed that the heterogeneity was due to the observational studies. The summary effect from the RCTs was 1.48 (95% CI: 1.23-1.72) with no significant subgroup differences by clinic type (primary care clinics, hospital outpatient clinics), message timing (24, 48, and 72+ hours before the scheduled appointment), and target age group (pediatric, older).

conclusionsShort message service reminders in health care settings substantially increase the likelihood of attending clinic appointments. SMS reminders appear to be a simple and efficient option for health services to use to improve service delivery, as well as resulting in health benefits for the patients who receive the reminders.

Indexed as

Patient ComplianceReminder SystemsAppointments and SchedulesCell PhoneHumans

Identifiers

PMID22091980
PMCPMC3419880

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

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.