Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2021 Apr;36(4):1044-1050.
doi: 10.1111/jgh.15218. Epub 2020 Aug 25.

Short Message Service reminders reduce outpatient colonoscopy nonattendance rate: A randomized controlled study

Thomas Y T Lam  1 , Aric J Hui  2 , Felix Sia  2 , Mei Y Wong  3 , Casper C P Lee  4 , Ka W Chung  4 , James Y W Lau  3 , Peter I Wu  1   5 , Joseph J Y Sung  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Short Message Service reminders reduce outpatient colonoscopy nonattendance rate: A randomized controlled study

Thomas Y T Lam et al. J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Background and aim: Nonattendance of outpatient colonoscopy leads to inefficient use of health-care resources. We aimed to study the effectiveness of using Short Message Service (SMS) reminder prior in patients scheduled for outpatient colonoscopy on their nonattendance rate.

Methods: Patients who scheduled for an outpatient colonoscopy and had access of SMS were recruited from three clinics in Hong Kong. Patients were randomized to SMS group and standard care (SC) group. All patients were given a written appointment slip on the booking date. In addition, patients in the SMS group received an SMS reminder 7-10 days before their colonoscopy appointment. Patients' demographics, attendance, colonoscopy completion, and bowel preparation quality were recorded. Logistic regression was performed to identify predictors of nonattendance.

Results: From November 2013 to October 2019, a total of 2225 eligible patients were recruited. A total of 1079 patients were allocated to the SMS group and 1146 to the SC group. The nonattendance rate of patients in the SMS group was significantly lower than that in the SC group (8.9% vs 11.9%, P = 0.022). There were no significant differences in their baseline characteristics and colonoscopy completion rate and bowel preparation quality. A trend towards a higher rate of adequate bowel preparation was observed in the SMS group when compared with the SC group (69.9% vs 65.8%, P = 0.053). Independent predictors for nonattendance included younger age, underprivilege, and existing diabetes.

Conclusions: An SMS reminder for outpatient colonoscopy is effective in reducing the nonattendance rate and may potentially improve the bowel preparation quality.

Keywords: Appointments and schedules; Endoscopy; Text messaging.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Saito Y, Sakamoto T, Fukunaga S, Nakajima T, Kiriyama S, Matsuda T. Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for colorectal tumors. Dig. Endosc. 2009; 21: S7-S12.
    1. Nakajima T, Saito Y, Tanaka S et al. Current status of endoscopic resection strategy for large, early colorectal neoplasia in Japan. Surg. Endosc. 2013; 27: 3262-3270.
    1. Meester RGS, Doubeni CA, Zauber AG et al. Public health impact of achieving 80% colorectal cancer screening rates in the United States by 2018. Cancer 2015; 121: 2281-2285.
    1. Adams LA, Pawlik J, Forbes GM. Nonattendance at outpatient endoscopy. Endoscopy 2004; 36: 402-404.
    1. Lee CS, McCormick PA. Telephone reminders to reduce non-attendance rate for endoscopy. J R Soc Med 2003; 96: 547-548.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources