Trial reportJournal of general internal medicine2021
Enhancing Usability of Appointment Reminders: Qualitative Interviews of Patients Receiving Care in the Veterans Health Administration.
Trial report in Journal of general internal medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03850431 (Using Behavioral Economics to Enhance Appointment Reminders and Reduce Missed Visits), which is not on this map. Cited by 10 papers.
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.
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.
Using Behavioral Economics to Enhance Appointment Reminders and Reduce Missed Visits
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- The use of text messages as an alternative invitation method for breast cancer screening: A randomized controlled trial (M-TICS study).PloS one · 2024Trial
- Using Nudges to Reduce Missed Appointments in Primary Care and Mental Health: a Pragmatic Trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Trial
- Patient and carer perceptions and experiences of technology-facilitated appointment reminders in healthcare: a scoping review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2026Article
- Leveraging Text Messaging and Behavior Theory to Improve Colorectal Cancer Screening in Federally Qualified Health Centers: Cohort Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Preoperative waiting time and no-show risk in day surgery: a large-scale cohort study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- A study protocol for a mixed-method environmental scan of contextual factors that influence lung cancer screening adherence.Implementation science communications · 2024Article
- Developing Patient-Centered Communication Ecosystems in Integrated Health Care Delivery Organizations.The Permanente journal · 2023Article
- Causes of Patient Nonattendance at Medical Appointments: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
- Association of eConsult Implementation With Access to Specialist Care in a Large Urban Safety-Net System.JAMA health forum · 2021Article
- Artificial intelligence machine learning-driven outpatient appointment management: A qualitative study on acceptability.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNo-shows are a persistent and costly problem in all healthcare systems. Because forgetting is a common cause of no-shows, appointment reminders are widely used. However, qualitative research examining appointment reminders and how to improve them is lacking.
objectiveTo understand how patients experience appointment reminders as part of intervention development for a pragmatic trial of enhanced appointment reminders.
designQualitative content analysis
participantsTwenty-seven patients at a single Department of Veterans Affairs hospital and its satellite clinics APPROACH: We conducted five waves of interviews using rapid qualitative analysis, in each wave continuing to ask veterans about their experience of reminders. We double-coded all interviews, used deductive and inductive content analysis to identify themes, and selected quotations that exemplified three themes (limitations, strategies, recommendations). KEY
resultsInterviews showed four limitations on the usability of current appointment reminders which may contribute to no-shows: (1) excessive information within reminders; (2) frustrating telephone systems when calling in response to an appointment reminder; (3) missing or cryptic information about clinic logistics; and (4) reminder fatigue. Patients who were successful at keeping appointments often used specific strategies to optimize the usability of reminders, including (1) using a calendar; (2) heightening visibility; (3) piggybacking; and (4) combining strategies. Our recommendations to enhance reminders are as follows: (1) mix up their content and format; (2) keep them short and simple; (3) add a personal touch; (4) include specifics on clinic location and contact information; (5) time reminders based on the mode of delivery; and (6) hand over control of reminders to patients.
conclusionsAppointment reminders are vital to prevent no-shows, but their usability is not optimized for patients. There is potential for healthcare systems to modify several aspects of the content, timing, and delivery of appointment reminders to be more effective and patient-centered.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.