Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Patients not attending appointments
I am currently on my musculoskeletal placement and have been getting frustrated by the number of patients that don’t show up to their appointments without cancelling. It has been happening to everyone on this placement, every day there at least one student (usually several) have patients that don’t show up. I am finding it frustrating as it is a waste of our time waiting for a patient that doesn’t show up. Also because we only have a limited amount of time in each area it is best for us to see as many patients as possible. If these patients called and cancelled it would give us the opportunity to book someone else in that place. I have found the best way to reduce this frustration is to use the time when I would have been treating that patient to catch up on notes and doctors letters/ handover summaries. I also think that if I was working in a private practice it would be a good idea to send out reminder emails or calls to patients before their appointments, particularly if they have not been for a while.
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2 comments:
I agree, it is annoying when patients don't show up and don't call beforehand especially if you have prepared what you are planning to do with the patient for their session. Some patients might not prioritise physio very highly in their schedule if they are unmotivated. These days most people have mobiles and it would be great if an sms system was set up so the pt was reminded via text message when their next appt is. I'm sure some practices do this already
perhaps you could suggest to your supervisor that you impose a small fee for cancellations without 24hours notice, not to make money but just a slight deterant for not attending.
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