TY - JOUR
T1 - Weekday affects attendance rate for medical appointments
T2 - large-scale data analysis and implications
AU - Ellis, David
AU - Jenkins, Rob
N1 - M1 - e51365
PY - 2012/12/13
Y1 - 2012/12/13
N2 - The financial cost of missed appointments is so great that even a small percentage reduction in Did Not Attend (DNA) rate could save significant sums of money. Previous studies have identified many factors that predict DNA rate, including patient age, gender, and transport options. However, it is not obvious how healthcare providers can use this information to improve attendance, as such factors are not under their control. One factor that is under administrative control is appointment scheduling. Here we asked whether DNA rate could be reduced by altering scheduling policy. In Study 1, we examined attendance records for 4,538,294 outpatient hospital appointments across Scotland between January 1st 2008 and December 31st 2010. DNA rate was highest for Mondays (11%), lowest for Fridays (9.7%), and decreased monotonically over the week (Monday-Friday comparison [χ2(1, N = 1,585,545) = 722.33, p
AB - The financial cost of missed appointments is so great that even a small percentage reduction in Did Not Attend (DNA) rate could save significant sums of money. Previous studies have identified many factors that predict DNA rate, including patient age, gender, and transport options. However, it is not obvious how healthcare providers can use this information to improve attendance, as such factors are not under their control. One factor that is under administrative control is appointment scheduling. Here we asked whether DNA rate could be reduced by altering scheduling policy. In Study 1, we examined attendance records for 4,538,294 outpatient hospital appointments across Scotland between January 1st 2008 and December 31st 2010. DNA rate was highest for Mondays (11%), lowest for Fridays (9.7%), and decreased monotonically over the week (Monday-Friday comparison [χ2(1, N = 1,585,545) = 722.33, p
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0051365
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0051365
M3 - Article
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 7
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 12
ER -