Same-day appointment requests are common and can be problematic for general practices that run appointment systems. In a questionnaire survey sent to 90 general practices in one health authority area (response rate 88%), a variety of management systems existed for dealing with same-day appointment requests. Managing the requests was found to be a significant cause of stress for many general pra...

Reminder systems have great potential to enhance healthcare outcome, but there is a big space for improvement to facilitate the collaborative appointment management with accessible mobile communication technology. This study proposes a design of integral reminder systems that automates the process of appointment rescheduling for patients and physicians in addition to confirmation and cancellati...

PURPOSE An important factor in the choice of therapy is the impact it has on the patient's quality of life. This survey aimed to understand treatment burden, treatment-related anxiety and worry, and practical issues such as appointment attendance and work absence in patients receiving injection therapy for diabetic macular edema (DME) or retinal vein occlusion (RVO). PATIENTS AND METHODS A Eu...

AIM To attempt to assess demand for access to sexual health services in a community where a "closed" appointment system operates in the local genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic. SETTING A large GUM clinic serving a provincial city in England. Appointments for new episodes are available only 1 or 2 days ahead. Service user complaints about repeated difficulty in getting through to book a visi...

Broken appointments continue to be an important productivity, quality assurance, and access gauge for private dental practices and academic dental centers. In November 2001, the University of Rochester Eastman Dental Center, an urban academic dental center, installed an automated confirmation system to address a high incidence of broken appointments. Following the installation of the system, th...