Date
12-4-2025
Department
School of Nursing
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Chair
Cindy Goodrich
Keywords
outpatient, clinic, primary care, appointment reminders, telephone calls, no-show rate, appointment adherence
Disciplines
Nursing
Recommended Citation
Gwan, Eveline, "Reducing Appointment No-Shows in an Outpatient Clinic Through Combined Telephone and Text Message Reminders: An Evidence-Based Practice Project" (2025). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 7765.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/7765
Abstract
In outpatient primary care, missed appointments continue to be a major problem, leading to poor health outcomes, fragmented care, and higher expenses. This evidence-based practice project’s purpose was to assess the efficacy of a dual reminder system that uses both live phone calls and system-generated text messages to decrease appointment no-shows in an outpatient clinic. During two 8-week periods, data were gathered using a pre- and postintervention strategy. Ten no-shows occurred during the preintervention phase, according to baseline data. When the intervention was put into place, there were only five no-shows over period, a 50% decrease. In addition, a patient survey found that all patients received reminders, with 91.7% of them reporting that they were extremely useful. The results show that a combined reminder method is feasible, well-received by patients, and beneficial in increasing appointment adherence. This project promotes evidence-based practice and can lead to cost savings, with strong potential for sustainability and replication in similar outpatient settings.
