Improving Follow-Up Adherence in a Primary Eye Care Setting

Wills Eye

Status: Completed

Conditions: Eye Diseases

Treatments: Behavioral: Automated Telephone System; Behavioral: Personalized Telephone Call; Behavioral: Usual Care

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02001129

WEF 14-040

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of three different ways of helping patients attend their recommended eye care appointments.

Full description

The three ways are 1) usual care, which involves a standard reminder letter; 2) automated telephone calls, which utilizes a machine to automatically call patients one month prior to their recommended follow-up date; 3)personalized telephone calls, which utilizes a staff member to personally call patients and offer them the opportunity to schedule at the time of the telephone call.

Enrollment: 100 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age: Over 18 years
• Primary Eye Care Patients who were recommended for a 6-month, 12-month, or 24-month follow-up appointment during September 2013 through November 2013.
• Access to a telephone

Exclusion criteria

• Does not speak English

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Factorial Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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100 participants in 3 patient groups

Automated Telephone System

Experimental group

Description:

In addition to a standardized reminder letter, participants also received a telephone call from an automated system to remind them of a recommended follow-up appointment.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Usual Care

Behavioral: Personalized Telephone Call

Personalized Telephone Call

Experimental group

Description:

In addition to the usual care letter, a staff member called participants one month prior of recommended follow-up appointment. During this call, participants were given the option to schedule an appointment.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Usual Care

Behavioral: Automated Telephone System

Usual Care

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants randomized to this arm receive a "usual care" letter which is a standard reminder letter from the primary eye care office. This is usual practice in many primary eye care facilities.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Usual Care