The impact of the self-booking system on the patient attendance

Abstract

This study analyses the impact of the adoption of an e-appointment system on patient appointment non-attendance rates in two departments (dental and family medicine) of the Prince Mansour Armed Forces Hospital for Society, in the Taif region of Saudi Arabia. In doing so, the study adopts a quantitative quasi-experimental design. Figures from 2014, before the system's adoption, and 2016, after its adoption, are compared. These show that the adoption of the system has had a positive impact in terms of lowering non-attendance rates. This in turn suggests such a system should be adopted more widely.