Methods A 12 month non randomized controlled trial was performed in 2013 comprising a cohort of children, adolescents and young adults with T1DM from the immediate local region compared with a similar cohort from a region greater than 70 Km away. The local cohort continued with 3 monthly appointments and extra visits as required between appointments. The distant cohort had 6 monthly face to fac...

BACKGROUND In Cameroon, only two-thirds of children with HIV exposure or infection receive appropriate HIV-directed medical care. Mortality, antiretroviral therapy resistance and suboptimal virological response are strongly related to missed opportunities for treatment, and, more specifically, to skipped scheduled medical appointments. The present trial, MORE CARE (Mobile Reminders for Cameroon...

Patients lost to follow up (LTFU) from treatment are a major concern for tuberculosis (TB) programmes. It is even more challenging in programmes in urban informal settlements (slums) with large, highly mobile, impoverished populations. Kibera, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya is such a community with an estimated population of 500,000 to 700,000. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in collaborati...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Missed clinic appointments significantly impact continuity of care, resident education, and clinical productivity. This national survey analyzed the awareness of family practice residency clinics regarding their missed appointment rate and the use of reminder systems. METHODS We mailed a questionnaire to all 468 family practice residency programs in the United States...

Background. Regular clinic attendance for antiretroviral (ARV) drug refills is important for successful clinical outcomes in HIV management. Methods. Clinic attendance for ARV drug refills and medication adherence using a clinic-based pill count in 392 adult patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in a district hospital in Uganda were prospectively monitored over a 28-week period. Resul...

BACKGROUND Dentists report facing difficulties and experiencing frustrations with people on social assistance, one of the social groups with the most dental needs. Scientists ignore how they deal with these difficulties and whether they are able to overcome them. Our objective was to understand how dentists deal with critical issues encountered with people on social assistance. METHODS We con...

Missed appointments are an avoidable cost and resource inefficiency which impact upon the health of the patient and treatment outcomes. Health care services are increasingly utilizing reminder systems to manage these negative effects. This study explores the effectiveness of reminder systems for promoting attendance, cancellations, and rescheduling of appointments across all health care setting...

'No-shows' or missed appointments result in under-utilized clinic capacity. We develop a logistic regression model using electronic medical records to estimate patients' no-show probabilities and illustrate the use of the estimates in creating clinic schedules that maximize clinic capacity utilization while maintaining small patient waiting times and clinic overtime costs. This study used infor...

PURPOSE To prospectively estimate patient-centered financial stress and its relationship with health care utilization in patients with head and neck cancer. This was a survey-based, longitudinal, prospective study of treatment-naïve patients with stage III, IVa, or IVb locally advanced head and neck cancer at a single-institution tertiary care hospital from May 2013 to November 2014. With 121 p...