Resumen

GRASSI RODRIGUES, Jonathan et al. Impact of text messages to reduce absenteeism in specialized consultations: a aleatorized study. Rev. cuba. inf. cienc. salud [online]. 2020, vol.31, n.3  Epub 30-Oct-2020. ISSN 2307-2113.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of WhatsApp® text messaging reminders on the rate of non-attendance to pediatric specialty consultation. Randomized examination was conducted of a control group and an experimental group. Participants in the experimental group received a WhatsApp® reminder of the appointment date. All the appointments scheduled for the pediatric subspecialty were included, i.e. first-time appointments as well as those following. Data analysis was based on percentage estimation by the chi-square test. A total 998 participants were included in the analysis, most of whom were men (59%). The non-attendance rate was 24% in the experimental group and 25.5% in the control group, for a difference of 1.5% (p= 0.580). The non-attendance rate was 30% (p= 0.009), particularly high for appointments scheduled for Mondays. In general terms, studies using text messaging as reminders in different populations reduced the rate of non-attendance to consultation. However, our results suggest that sending WhatsApp® text messages as reminders of medical appointments is not an effective tool to reduce non-attendance to pediatric consultation.

Palabras clave : Non-attendance; text message; access to health services; mHealth; public health informatics.

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