Date of Award

Summer 8-3-2022

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

David Liguori, DNP, NP-C, ACHPN

Second Advisor

Alicia Fields, DNP, FNP-C, RYT

Abstract

Practice Problem: Appointment no-shows and nonadherence have been an organization-wide concern within the project setting, resulting in increased healthcare costs and workload while disrupting the continuity of patient care.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: In adult diabetic patients ages 19-99 (P), how do appointment reminders by nursing staff and patient education related to appointment adherence (I) compared to the current practice of appointment reminders by administrative assistants and no patient education related to appointment adherence (C) affect appointment adherence rates (O) within ten weeks (T)?

Evidence: Current evidence demonstrates that patient appointment reminders improve appointment adherence rates. The evidence supported the practice change project through the use of patient appointment reminders to decrease appointment no-shows and overall healthcare costs.

Intervention: The evidence-based practice change project utilized patient appointment reminders that included an education component related to the benefits of appointment adherence. The project change included the utilization of a nursing staff member to contact patients in one endocrinology clinic in a small, rural Southern Indiana hospital.

Outcome: The project results demonstrated that appointment reminders were effective in increasing appointment adherence rates in the project clinic.

Conclusion: Evidence supports the use of patient appointment reminders which correlates to improved appointment adherence rates. The patient appointment reminders conducted by nursing staff during this DNP practice change project demonstrated an increase in appointment adherence rates within the project clinic.

Comments

Scholarly project submitted to the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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