Telephone Reminder to Increase Appointment Rates

Sorlandet Hospital HF

Status: Completed

Conditions: Reminder Systems; Substance-Related Disorders

Treatments: Other: Reminder plus (telephone call from therapist)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04707599

005004 - 2014/2225

Details and patient eligibility

About

Missed appointments to outpatient substance use treatment are common and costly and can have a negative effect on the health of patients.

In this quasi-experimental study, the investigators used an on-off design to examine whether a reminder "plus" intervention (telephone call from therapist before first appointment) would increase attendance and improve cancellation and rebooking practices. Secondary outcomes included satisfaction with treatment and intention to complete the treatment program.

Enrollment: 147 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 85 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Newly referred patient
• > 18 years
• Diagnosis: Substance related disorder

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who are unable to understand or score the survey due to cognitive or language barriers

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Sequential Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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147 participants in 2 patient groups

OFF intervention

No Intervention group

Description:

No reminder plus (telephone reminder from therapist) but standard test message reminder (SMS) from second admission

ON intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Reminder plus (telephone reminder from therapist) AND standard test message reminder (SMS) from second admission

Treatment:

Other: Reminder plus (telephone call from therapist)