No-shows at public secondary dental care for pediatric patients: a cross-sectional study in a large Brazilian city

Perceptions of barriers towards dental appointment keeping among patients of a tertiary care setting: A mixed method exploration

Objectives

To explore the barriers governing dental appointment keeping among patients reporting to a tertiary care setting. To assess the prevalence of missed dental appointments in a tertiary care center.

Primary

To explore the barriers governing dental appointment keeping among patients reporting to a tertiary care setting.

Secondary

To assess the prevalence of missed dental appointments in a tertiary care center.

Methodology

The study design adopted is a sequential explanatory mixed method design; here, quantitative data collection and analysis is followed by qualitative data/analysis. The quantitative arm recorded six months of retrospective data on missed appointments in the centre. Prevalence was estimated, and descriptive and inferential statistics were performed. For the qualitative component, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted among dental health professionals and patients. Data was transcribed, and thematic content analysis was performed using NVivo software.

Results

The prevalence of missed appointments in the tertiary care centre was 8.4 %. Personal/health issues (30.7 %) were noticed to be the most reported reason for missed appointments. Other causes include distance to the clinic (17.2 %), inflexible work schedule (14.7 %), transportation (12.3 %), dental anxiety (6.7 %), and economic issues (5.5 %). Qualitative data revealed the appointment system, experiences, consequences, responsible factors, management, and prevention of missed appointments in a tertiary care dental centre.

Conclusion and recommendations

Multiple barriers are identified for dental appointment-keeping behavior. Missed appointments are prevalent in the study setting, as dental treatments require multiple sittings to complete. The study's findings primarily focus on a tertiary care center and may reflect reduced prevalence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tailor-made interventions are suggested for tertiary care settings to manage and prevent missed appointments, paving the way for successful health care delivery.

Nudging oral habits; application of behavioral economics in oral health promotion: a critical review

Background

Oral health disorders significantly contribute to the global incidence of chronic diseases. Nudge interventions have demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing people's decision-making and self-management capacities in a cost-efficient manner. As a result, these interventions could be valuable tools for fostering improved oral care habits. This critical review explores potential behavioral nudges applicable to promoting oral health.

Methods

A thorough electronic literature search was conducted on Scopus, Embase, and PubMed databases for papers published post-2008. The search focused on empirical evidence concerning the direct and indirect application of Nudge theory in oral health enhancement. In addition, the investigation included the nudge intervention's role in managing common non-communicable disease risk factors (tobacco, alcohol, and sugar) and their use in other health sectors.

Results and conclusion

There is a dearth of studies on behavioral economics, particularly those involving reward and reminder techniques. However, various successful nudge interventions have been identified in other sectors that aim to improve health decisions. These include strategies encouraging healthier nutritional choices, tobacco and alcohol cessation, medication compliance, routine physical activity, and regular health check-ups. Such interventions can also have direct or indirect positive impacts on oral health. Implementing these interventions within an oral care framework could promote oral health due to similar underlying cognitive mechanisms. However, different types of nudge interventions have varying degrees of effectiveness. Furthermore, factors such as the method of delivery and the characteristics of the targeted population significantly influence the outcome of the intervention. Hence, it is imperative to conduct extensive studies in diverse socioeconomic settings to fully understand the potentials, limitations, and impacts of nudge interventions in promoting oral health.

Integrality, absenteeism and resolubility of specialized care for pediatric patients: a cross-sectional study

Dental Specialties Centers (CEOs) are clinics representing part of the secondary oral health care system of the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). Pediatric dentistry is not a requirement for service accreditation. However, the CEO of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (CEO-UFRGS) has provided dental care for children aged 3-11 years since 2017. The utilization rates of health services are influenced by absenteeism. Therefore, evaluation of absences for dental appointments is of primary importance. This study aimed to evaluate referral characteristics, absenteeism, and resolubility of pediatric dentistry appointments at the CEO-UFRGS. This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at the Dental Teaching Hospital of the university and analyzed secondary data from referrals and medical records. From August 2017 to December 2019, 167 referrals and 96 medical records were reviewed, from which data of individual variables related to the referral process and treatment were collected. Data were collected by a single trained examiner and analyzed using SPSS software. The main reasons for referral to secondary care were dental caries and pulpal or periapical diseases associated with difficult-to-manage behavior. An absenteeism rate of 28.1% at the first pediatric dental visit and a resolution rate of 65.6% were found. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that each day of waiting for specialized care resulted in a 0.3% of higher chance of absence for appointment. This also increased the chance by 0.7% in child who attended the first visit to complete treatment, suggesting that the waiting time for attendance was associated with absenteeism and resolubility. Public policies that expand providing child dental care in secondary care are recommended to improve access to and resolubility of services.

Factors associated with the absence of Brazilians in specialized dental centers

Aim

To identify the individual and contextual factors associated with the absence of Brazilians at a scheduled appointment in Dental Specialties Centers (DSC).

Methods

This cross-sectional design uses the National Program for Improving Access and Quality of Dental Specialties Centers database, 2018. The outcome was the users' lack of at least one of the scheduled appointments. Contextual and individual independent variables were used, considering Andersen's behavioural model. The analyses were performed with the R Core Team and SAS (Studio 3.8, Institute Inc, North Carolina, U.S, 2019) programs.

Results

Of the 10,391 patients interviewed, 27.7% missed at least one of the consultations. In the adjusted multivariate model, the interpretation based on the effect size and 95% CI showed that the behaviour individual predisposing factors such as age ≤ 42 years (OR = 1.10; 95%CI:1.01–1.21), individual need factors such as participation in the “Bolsa Família” program (OR = 1,14; 95%CI:1.02–1.27), not being covered by the Family Health Strategy (OR = 1.15; 95% CI:1.02–1.30), and users of periodontics services (OR = 1.22;95%CI:1.05–1.40) were associated with absences. The behavioural factor associated with the outcome was that the DSC facilities were not in good condition (OR = 1.18; 95%CI:1.03–1.34). DSC located in the capital (OR = 1.12; 95% CI: 0.92–1.48) were 12% more likely to have dental absences than those in the interior region.

Conclusion

There are individual and contextual barriers associated with patients not attending specialised public dental consultations. DSC should offer adequate hours to patients, especially young adults and vulnerable people.

Reducing non-attendance in outpatient appointments: predictive model development, validation, and clinical assessment

Background

Non-attendance to scheduled hospital outpatient appointments may compromise healthcare resource planning, which ultimately reduces the quality of healthcare provision by delaying assessments and increasing waiting lists. We developed a model for predicting non-attendance and assessed the effectiveness of an intervention for reducing non-attendance based on the model.

Methods

The study was conducted in three stages: (1) model development, (2) prospective validation of the model with new data, and (3) a clinical assessment with a pilot study that included the model as a stratification tool to select the patients in the intervention. Candidate models were built using retrospective data from appointments scheduled between January 1, 2015, and November 30, 2018, in the dermatology and pneumology outpatient services of the Hospital Municipal de Badalona (Spain). The predictive capacity of the selected model was then validated prospectively with appointments scheduled between January 7 and February 8, 2019. The effectiveness of selective phone call reminders to patients at high risk of non-attendance according to the model was assessed on all consecutive patients with at least one appointment scheduled between February 25 and April 19, 2019. We finally conducted a pilot study in which all patients identified by the model as high risk of non-attendance were randomly assigned to either a control (no intervention) or intervention group, the last receiving phone call reminders one week before the appointment.

Results

Decision trees were selected for model development. Models were trained and selected using 33,329 appointments in the dermatology service and 21,050 in the pneumology service. Specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy for the prediction of non-attendance were 79.90%, 67.09%, and 73.49% for dermatology, and 71.38%, 57.84%, and 64.61% for pneumology outpatient services. The prospective validation showed a specificity of 78.34% (95%CI 71.07, 84.51) and balanced accuracy of 70.45% for dermatology; and 69.83% (95%CI 60.61, 78.00) for pneumology, respectively. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed on 1,311 individuals identified as high risk of non-attendance according to the selected model. Overall, the intervention resulted in a significant reduction in the non-attendance rate to both the dermatology and pneumology services, with a decrease of 50.61% (p<0.001) and 39.33% (p=0.048), respectively.

Conclusions

The risk of non-attendance can be adequately estimated using patient information stored in medical records. The patient stratification according to the non-attendance risk allows prioritizing interventions, such as phone call reminders, to effectively reduce non-attendance rates.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12913-022-07865-y.

Factors associated with moderate sedation attendance at a university-based pediatric dental clinic

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES

To evaluate patient attendance for moderate sedation (MS) at a university-based pediatric dental clinic; to identify factors with negative impact on MS being completed and to assess for associations between no-show appointments and patient variables METHODS: The electronic health records of patients scheduled for MS appointments in a 22-month period were assessed by a single investigator. Demographic and clinical data related to appointment attendance and MS procedure performance were collected and statistically analyzed using chi-square, Spearman's rho correlation tests, and logistic regression (p < 0.05) RESULTS: A total of 618 scheduled MS appointments were included. The MS appointment no-show-rate was 17.1 percent. Appointment confirmation (p = 0.001) and dmft score ≥ 9 (p = 0.039) had positive correlation with attendance, while "no-shows" history (p = 0.024) and longer waiting time (p = 0.040) had negative impact on attendance. About 20% of attended MS were not completed, with main reasons of airway risk (32.3%), ongoing illness (28.4%), and violation of NPO guidelines (21.5%). Race, ethnicity, language spoken, child's behavior, and distance traveled had no significant impact on attendance CONCLUSION: Interventions to decrease non-attendance rates should target patients who are unconfirmed, have a history of no-show appointments, and are scheduled well before the sedation appointment.