A prospective study in three psychogeriatric day hospitals using administrative interventions to improve non-attendance
✍ Scribed by Barry D. Wright; Bridget Lunt; Stephen J. Harris; Daphne Wallace
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1995
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 508 KB
- Volume
- 10
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6230
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This article reports a survey and a subsequent prospective intervention study. The survey was conducted in two psychogeriatric day hospitals to establish the extent of day-by-day non-attendance. In 1991, 23% of allocated places were not taken up and the reasons for 98% of these episodes are reported. Little attention has been paid to non-attendance rates in the literature. Their importance is discussed. The prospective intervention study was then conducted using information from the survey year. Administrative interventions, which sought to raise the awareness of patient non-attendance within the multidisciplinary team, were put into place in the two day hospitals. Non-attendance rates in a third day hospital, where no intervention was made, were used for comparative purposes. After a second year, non-attendance in the day hospital with no interventions had fallen by 3%. The other two had each reduced non-attendance rates by 18%. These reductions have clinical relevance, representing 380 patient days over the whole year in the two day hospitals. KEY woRDs-Health services for the aged, day care, community hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, patient acceptance of health care, treatment refusal, patient dropouts, efficiency.