No-shows in ambulatory clinics and non-utilized appointments for elective operations in selected surgical departments at a tertiary hospital in Israel

Table 2 Causes of ambulatory care No-shows on telephone survey

	ENT n = 25	Orthopedics n = 25
Administrative problems	7 (28%)	6 (24%)
Forgot to attend	5 (20%)	4 (16%)
No longer needs appointment	4 (16%)	2 (8%)
Cancelled appointment	3 (12%)
Sudden constraint	2 (8%)	1 (4%)
Did not receive guarantee from HMO	1 (4%)	2 (8%)
Tardiness	1 (4%)	1 (4%)
Parking	1 (4%)
Illness of a relative	1 (4%)
Illness		7 (28%)
Doctor did not arrive		1 (4%)
Religious festival		1 (4%)

* Administrative problems: An appointment was made at the wrong clinic, problems with registration in the hospital registry (a patient arrived and the system registered that he/she did not arrive, a patient received a phone call from the hospital about cancelling the appointment and instead registered that the patient did not arrive), the patient arrived but without the appropriate referral, the patient arrived without the appropriate tests, the patient was told that the appointment was scheduled without his/her prior knowledge, the patient arrived for the scheduled appointment but was referred to a private medical clinic
* No longer needs an appointment – the patient managed to find another solution for his/her medical issue and did not call to cancel the original appointment
* Cancelled appointment – the patient called to cancel the appointment but it registered as a No-show in the system
* Tardiness - the patient was late for the appointment and was not seen by anyone in the clinic

ISSN: 2045-4015