Volume 27, Issue 132, February 2023

Factors affecting patients’ compliance to endodontic clinics in Qassim University KSA

Amer Naif Naefa Alharbi¹, Muhammad Atif Saleem Agwan^2♦, Syed Fareed Mohsin³, Sameer Shaikh⁴

¹Intern, College of Dentistry in Ar-Rass, Qassim University, KSA
²Assistant Professor, Department of Restorative Dentistry, College of Dentistry in Ar-Rass, Qassim University, KSA
³Associate Professor, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry in Ar-Rass, Qassim University, KSA
⁴Faculty Member, Division of Oral Diagnosis and Oral Medicine, Department of OFMS and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Hail, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Assistant Professor, Department of Restorative Dentistry, College of Dentistry in Ar-Rass, Qassim University, KSA
ORCID: 0000-0001-7019-6465

ABSTRACT

Background: Failure to maintain an appointment at a university dental clinic impairs students' learning by occupying health resources that could be used by other patients, thereby impairing the quality of healthcare services. Objective: This study aimed to explore the factors of missed and cancelled appointments in endodontic clinic at Qassim University Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was planned to collect data from patients visiting Al-Rass dental hospital. Data from patients who visited Al-Rass Dental Hospital was collected in this cross-sectional study. A selfadministered questionnaire was distributed to participants using nonprobability convenient sampling. The survey was designed to evaluate the factors responsible for cancelled or missed dental appointments. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. Percentage and frequencies were used to display the descriptive data. The Chi square was used to assess the relationship between the variables. Results: Among 249 patients, 218 were males and 31 were females. Data revealed that 75.1 percent of participants missed appointments, whereas 67.1 percent had canceled their dental appointments. A significant association was found between cancelled and missed appointment (p=<0.00) which showed that patient who cancelled their appointment are more likely to miss their appointment as compared to patient always attend their appointments on time. Conclusion: The appointment schedules at inconvenient time were the main reason to cancel or missed an appointment. Hence to reduce no-shows, patient education, convenient appointment time and frequent reminder is necessary.

Keywords: Missed dental appointments, Patient compliance, Cancelled appointments, Endodontics

Medical Science, 2023, 27, e93ms2594

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v27i132/e93ms2594

Published: 17 February 2023