ABSTRACT
The study asked how do elderly veterans who fail to keep appointments in the General Medicine and Surgery Out-Patient Clinics in the San Juan, VA Hospital differ from those who do not. Three hypothesis were formulated: 1. Elderly patients who fail to keep appointments have other medical alternatives in non-VA facilities. 2. Elderly patients who fail to keep appointments have a longer waiting time between appointments. 3. Elderly patients who are given appointments in various clinics within a short period of time fail to keep appointments. A sample of fifty-three elderly veterans from the Medical Out-Patient Clinics was drawn. A face-to-face structured interview was used to collect the data. The interview was designed to obtain socio-demographic characteristics, use of clinics, and recommendations to improve services. A percentage analysis was used to point out differences and similarities. The findings supported the hypothesis that patients who failed to keep appointments not only used private non-VA facilities, but also had the financial resources to pay for them. Data confirmed that those who failed to keep appointments have to wait a longer time between appointments. Patients who failed to keep appointments considered them too infrequent which resulted in forgetting the appointments.
