@article{article_532503, title={Sending outpatient clinic appointment reminder information by short messages}, journal={Sağlık Akademisyenleri Dergisi}, volume={6}, pages={218–221}, year={2019}, author={Bucak, İbrahim Hakan and Doğan, Fatih and Almis, Habip and Songur, Levent and Turgut, Mehmet}, keywords={Randevu,Kısa Mesaj Servisi,Hatırlatıcı}, abstract={<div>Objective and Aim: Patients who fail to attend outpatient clinic appointments hinder the efficient use of health resources. Sending outpatient clinic appointment reminder information by the short mail service (SMS) in order to reduce the impact of no-shows is now widespread. Appointment reminder messages were sent by SMS via the Central Physician Appointment System (CPAS) to patients with Pediatric Outpatient Clinic appointments as a first pilot measure in a tertiary hospital in Turkey. The purpose of this retrospective study was to examine data for the period in which reminder information was sent by SMS. </div> <div>Materials and Methods: Patients making pediatric outpatient clinic appointments via the CPAS between 01.04.2017 and 31.12.2017 and sent appointment reminder information by SMS were included as the study group (SG). Patients making pediatric outpatient clinic appointments via the CPAS between 01.04.2016 and 31.12.2016 but not sent appointment reminder information by SMS were enrolled as the control group (CG). The two groups were then compared <br /> </div> <div>Results: The numbers of patients in the SG and CG were 75,279 and 49,531, respectively. We determined that 27,416 patients in SG and 11,909 in CG made appointments via the CPAS, and that there were 2120 no-shows in SG and 2151 in CG (p<0.01). Sending information via SMS increased the level of patients making appointments and attending them from 81.9% to 92.2%. </div> <div>Discussion: Sending appointment reminder information by SMS increases outpatient clinic appointment attendance. </div>}, number={3}, publisher={Dünya Kongre}