Biomaterial Database

Improving first appointment attendance rates in child psychiatry outpatient clinics. 1990

R F Kourany, and J Garber, and G Tornusciolo

Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville, Tennessee.

This study tested the efficacy of several interventions for reducing the rate of "no shows" to first appointments to a child psychiatry outpatient clinic. After their initial telephone contact with the clinic, patients were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) a reminder telephone call, (2) an orientation letter, (3) both a telephone prompt and an orientation letter, and (4) no contact. Results indicated that any contact was significantly more likely to reduce the "no show" rate than no contact. Those who "no showed" or cancelled had to wait significantly longer for an appointment than did those who showed. Parent's primary reason for not making their appointments was that the scheduled time interfered with their work schedule. Implications of these results for improving clinic services are discussed.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D010352	Patient Dropouts	Discontinuance of care received by patient(s) due to reasons other than full recovery from the disease.	Dropout, Patient,Dropouts, Patient,Patient Dropout
D012017	Referral and Consultation	The practice of sending a patient to another program or practitioner for services or advice which the referring source is not prepared to provide.	Consultation,Gatekeepers, Health Service,Hospital Referral,Second Opinion,Consultation and Referral,Health Service Gatekeepers,Hospital Referrals,Referral,Referral, Hospital,Referrals, Hospital,Consultations,Gatekeeper, Health Service,Health Service Gatekeeper,Opinion, Second,Opinions, Second,Referrals,Second Opinions
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D005196	Family Therapy	A form of group psychotherapy. It involves treatment of more than one member of the family simultaneously in the same session.	Therapy, Family,Family Therapies,Therapies, Family
D005260	Female		Females
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000293	Adolescent	A person 13 to 18 years of age.	Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D001071	Appointments and Schedules	The different methods of scheduling patient visits, appointment systems, individual or group appointments, waiting times, waiting lists for hospitals, walk-in clinics, etc.	Patient Appointments,Patient Schedules,Schedules, Patient,Appointments,Schedules,Appointment,Appointment, Patient,Appointments, Patient,Patient Appointment,Patient Schedule,Schedule,Schedule, Patient,Schedules and Appointments