74, 136 Forgetfulness may also be a reason that is offered by patients, as it may be more convenient and easier than the truth. or possibly in relation to the health setting patients attending sensitive health-care appointments may prefer a very confidential reminder, although this needs to be confirmed through research.Īlthough simple reminders are effective memory joggers for people who might otherwise forget, this does not explain why, in settings where reminders have been used, forgetfulness continues to be a commonly cited reason for non-attendance. 55 Patient preferences for reminders appear to vary considerably, and we hypothesise that this may be related to sociodemographic factors such as age, employment status, etc. 200 In a different study of adolescents attending dental clinics, participants reported a significant preference for letter reminders (56.3%), followed by telephone reminders (26.0%) and SMS reminders (17.7%). In an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) clinic serving young adult patients, a high percentage of whom were mobile phone users, SMS was the preferred option. Therefore, the choice of reminder system remains an important consideration for health services. Although very few studies have investigated the influence of preference on reminder effectiveness, it may provide some indication about a patient’s ability to access the reminder, which may ultimately influence the effectiveness of the reminder. 55, 79, 145, 200 The evidence presented indicates that the use of simple reminders is both acceptable and feasible across a wide array of health-care settings. 25 Numerous studies suggest that as many as 80–90% of patients have a positive attitude to receiving a reminder that jogs the memory. 59, 63, 70, 76, 78, 79, 98, 99, 102, 106, 198 – 200 It has been suggested that simple reminders may be effective because they act as cues to counteract prospective memory failures. Forgetfulness or confusion over date, time or location of the appointment appears to act as the theoretical basis for many reminder systems identified in this review. Forgetfulness is reported by patients and by health professionals as the most common reasons for not attending a health-care appointment and accounts for between 8% and 44.8% of patients who did not attend their appointments, indicating that this is a substantial problem (see Chapter 5, Reported reasons for non-attendance). Simple reminders, which provide details of timing and location of appointments, are effective at increasing attendance at appointment. All reminders are effective at improving attendance at appointment.
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