Patients who miss their medical appointments increase health care costs for themselves and for clinics. The purpose of this qualitative, single exploratory case study was to explore strategies health care clinic managers use to reduce medical no-shows for patient-scheduled appointments. Change management theory guided the scope and analysis. The data collection included a single clinical operations manager who have strategies to mitigate no-shows for patient-scheduled appointments participated in a semistructured interview in southeastern Virginia, the direct observation of 2 office workers in their natural setting of scheduling appointments, and for methodological triangulation, a review of organizational archival documents about missed medical appointments. Member checking was used to strengthen the credibility and trustworthiness of analyses, which were carried out using Yin's 5-step analysis process. Major themes were forgetfulness and high deductible plan; minor themes were lead-time and inclement weather that lead to no-shows. This study explored the strategies necessary to reduce costs and increase revenues; it could free funds to provide services to patients, such as education and counseling support. The findings from this study could contribute to social change by adding new knowledge or informing the strategies to reduce medical no-shows. These findings may also benefit organizational worth and increase community health.

Bakgrund: Uteblivna patientbesök är ett problem som påverkar sjukhusen ekonomi men även patienternas hälsa. No shows är ett uttryck som används för de patienter som utan att meddela ej kommer till bokade besök och denna patientgrupp riskerar i högre grad att insjukna akut samt förvärra sitt sjukdomstillstånd genom att utebli. No shows ger även en stor ekonomisk belastning på sjukvården. Patienter som avbokar eller väljer att ej närvara vid besök, där bland screeningpatienter, löper en högre risk att insjukna akut än de som deltar vid screening. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka faktorer till att patienter uteblir från besök vid röntgenavdelningen. Metod: Denna studie genomfördes som en allmän litteraturöversikt. Artikelsökningen gjordes i databaserna PubMed samt Cinhal och resulterade i 15 artiklar som svarade mot syftet. Resultat: Orsaker till uteblivna besök sammanställdes i sex huvudgrenar; rädsla, praktiska faktorer, ålder, administration, familj och socioekonomisk status. Slutsats: Liknande resultat återfinns i studier vid andra avdelningar och resultatet kunde således generaliseras. Mer forskning behövs om varför dessa huvudgrenar påverkar att patienterna ej kommer på sina besök. Det är av vikt för röntgensjuksköterskan att veta om orsaker till uteblivna besök för att kunna jobba mot en förändring som kan förbättra både sjukhusens ekonomi men även patienthälsan. / Background: Missed appointments is a problem that effects the hospital economics and the patients’ health, No- show patients is a term for patients thats without informing don't come to their booked appointment.This patient’s group has a higher risk of falling ill urgently or aggravate the already existing disease. A patient cost too the health care system is bigger when they miss booked appointments. Patient’s who decline or select not to participate in screening also increases their risk of falling ill. the Screening patients that’s participate decreases risk of sickness or finding it early. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine factors to no show patient’s in radiology. Method: A literature review was conducted. Articles searches using databases PubMed and Cinhal resulted in 15 articles that’s matched the purpose of the study. Result: Six different factors/reasons was found, fear, practical factors, aged, administrations, family and social status. Conclusions: Similar results was found in study’s in other departments of the hospital and there for a generalization was possible. More research needs to be done in to how the seven main branches actually effects missed appointments and no show patient’s. It is of importance to the radiology nurse to know the reasons so they can work towards a positive change in both hospital economics and patient’s health.