Non-Attendance to Post-Radiotherapy Follow-Up in Breast Cancer: Efficacy of Mail and Telephone Reminders

Frank Bruns, Frank Bruns, Anne Caroline Knöchelmann, Christoph Henkenberens, Hans Christiansen
2020 Clinical Oncology and Research  
To assess the efficacy of two reminder interventions in improving post-radiotherapy followup attendance rates of breast cancer patients. Methods: Three periods of three months were assessed, a baseline period, an intervention period and a confirmation period. In the intervention period, a two-step reminder system was used. This system consisted of a mail reminder (IV1) that was sent to all patients three to four weeks prior to the post-radiotherapy follow-up visit, which was followed by up to
more » ... o telephone calls (IV2) for all patients who did not attend this follow-up visit. During the confirmation period, IV2 was used exclusively to assess the maximal possible efficacy of the telephone reminder. Results: The non-attendance rate of breast cancer patients was 18.1% (19/105) in the baseline period; this rate decreased to 13.1% in the intervention period (23/176; p=0.33) after IV1 and then decreased to 6.3% (11/176; p=0.03) after IV2. In the confirmation period, 24.4% (42/172) of breast cancer patients did not attend their post-radiotherapy follow-up visit; the non-attendance rate decreased significantly after (exclusive) IV2 from 24.4% (42/172) to 9.3% (16/172; p<0.001). Significance was observed for the first call but not for the second call in the chi-square test. Conclusion: Telephone reminder is an effective tool for improving breast cancer patient adherence to the post-radiotherapy follow-up visit. In this study, the telephone reminder system was more effective than the mail reminder system.
doi:10.31487/j.cor.2020.08.03 fatcat:5ov3cjn6w5ebxjcgc526gvxeum