Use of short message service reminders to improve attendance at an internal medicine outpatient clinic in Saudi Arabia: a randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT

Non-attendance at outpatient appointments is a major problem. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of sending short message service [SMS] reminders to patients' mobile phones in reducing non-attendance at scheduled appointments. A randomized clinical trial was conducted in 2011 in an internal medicine outpatient clinic at a hospital in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Eligible patients [n = 502] were randomly allocated to receive an SMS reminder of their appointment [intervention group] or no reminder [control group]. The non-attendance rate was significantly lower in the reminder group [26.3%] than the non-reminder group [39.8%]. In multivariate logistic regression, age, sex and nationality did not affect attendance rates but having their first contact with the hospital [OR = 7.40] and not receiving an SMS reminder [OR = 0.56] were significant factors in non-attendance. All patients surveyed about their perceptions of the SMS reminder [n = 76] reported they would like to continue to receive SMS reminders in the future