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Enhancing Usability of Appointment Reminders: Qualitative Interviews of Patients Receiving Care in the Veterans Health Administration
- Source :
- J Gen Intern Med
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020.
-
Abstract
- BACKGROUND: No-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. OBJECTIVE: To understand how patients experience appointment reminders as part of intervention development for a pragmatic trial of enhanced appointment reminders. DESIGN: Qualitative content analysis PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-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 RESULTS: Interviews 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. CONCLUSIONS: Appointment 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. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s11606-020-06183-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Subjects :
- Reminder Systems
education
Veterans Health
Ambulatory Care Facilities
01 natural sciences
Appointments and Schedules
03 medical and health sciences
InformationSystems_MODELSANDPRINCIPLES
0302 clinical medicine
Internal Medicine
Humans
Medicine
030212 general & internal medicine
0101 mathematics
Veterans Affairs
health care economics and organizations
Original Research
Veterans
Forgetting
business.industry
Qualitative interviews
010102 general mathematics
Usability
Veterans health
medicine.disease
Pragmatic trial
humanities
Content analysis
Patient Compliance
Medical emergency
business
psychological phenomena and processes
Qualitative research
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15251497 and 08848734
- Volume :
- 36
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of General Internal Medicine
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....f88c7e4cd4392b3a2813c55386dcb3a5