Missed appointment at specialist outpatient clinics: The Federal Medical Centre Bida, Northern Nigeria experience

Background/Objective: Thousands of patients miss their appointments every year in all kind of practices including specialists’ cares. Timely access at scheduled clinic appointment is important for achieving good medical outcomes to smoothen workflow, reduce crowding and waiting period, and often determines patient’s satisfaction. However, the after effect of missed appointment include; disruption of daily work planning of both physicians and administrative staff, interfered with adequate medical care, time lost and decreased efficiency on the part of physicians and as well as prolonged waiting time at the clinic. This study aims to determine the rate of missed appointments, reasons for missing appointments, the predisposing factors and aftereffect of missed appointments at specialist outpatient clinics of the hospital. Methods/Design: This was a cross-sectional study carried out at the consultative outpatient clinics of FMC Bida. Out of 38,837 patients’ population, a total of 380 patients were systematically co-opted into the study using a stratified sampling technique. A semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaires comprised of questions that assessed the participant’s demographic characteristics, rate, reasons and predisposing factors of missed appointment. Results: out of 380 participants co-opted into the study, 315 responses were obtained. The result showed that the majority of the participants was within the age range of 25-34 (105, 33.3%), mostly female (220, 69.8%) and predominately Nupe dialect. A total of 139(44.1%) participants claimed to have ever missed their appointment. The reasons for the missed are; forgetfulness, lack of money for treatment, lack of money for transport and work commitment respectively. The majority who missed their appointment attend gyne infertility, orthopedic and psychiatric clinics. They are uneducated, artisans and from villages outside Bida town. Conclusion: since the reasons of missed appointment and predisposing factors have been identified, healthcare professionals and hospital management will need to pay serious attention with regards to the following; reduce waiting time at the clinic, restructure appointment scheduling system, educate patients on appointment, subsidize the cost of treatment for