Who Misses Appointments Made Online? Retrospective Analysis of the Outpatient Department of a General Hospital in Jinan, Shandong Province, China

Abstract

Purpose

Missed appointments in outpatient registration pose challenges for hospital administrators, especially in the context of China’s shortage of medical resources. Previous studies have identified factors that affect healthcare access via traditional appointment systems. Few studies, however, have specifically investigated Internet appointment systems. Therefore, this study explored the key factors related to missed appointments made on the Internet appointment system of a general hospital in Jinan, Shandong Province.

Methods

Online appointment data were collected from the outpatient department of a general hospital in Jinan from September 2017 to February 2018. Logistic regression was used to analyze the relative importance of eight variables: gender, age, interval between scheduling and appointment, day of the week, physician’s academic rank, appointment fee, previous missed appointments, and clinical department.

Results

A total of 48,777 online appointment records were collected, which included a 15% no-show rate. The key factors associated with no-shows included age, interval between scheduling and appointment, previous missed appointments, and clinical department. No significant relationships were found between no-shows and gender, day of the week, and appointment fee.

Conclusion

No-show rates were influenced by many factors. Based on this study’s findings, targeted measures can be taken to decrease no-show frequency and improve medical efficiency.

Keywords:

• online appointments
• no-show appointments
• influential factors
• logistic regression

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

This study was approved by the Academic Board of the School of Management, Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Finance and Economics (A-19-0089).

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, or in all these areas; took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.