Missed appointments in diagnostic imaging

Numbers improving, but there is still cause for concern

“Those are 157 appointments other patients could have had between CT, MRI, ultrasound, mammography, bone marrow density, those kinds of areas.” Tanya Dickey

Island health officials are still dealing with the frustration of missed appointments in diagnostic imaging across the province.

In March, there were 157 missed appointments in diagnostic imaging at all P.E.I. hospitals combined.

“We’ve been tracking noshow rates for appointments since July 2017. It’s gone down since it initially started, but not by a whole lot. In June of last year, the number of no-shows was about 180, and now it’s down to about 157,” said Tanya Dickey, acting director of the Island’s diagnostic imaging departments.

“It’s caused a lot of discussion – both positive and negative. Some patients feel that it is our job to try harder, while others felt outraged that people weren’t attending their appointments.”

Missed appointments because of patients not showing up – for whatever reason – have an impact on other patients, the departments and health-care workers.

“Those are 157 appointments other patients could have had between CT, MRI, ultrasound, mammography, bone marrow density, those kinds of areas.”

It causes delays throughout the system.

“It’s someone’s potential treatment or diagnosis being pushed.”

Dickey has been working within the diagnostic imaging system since 2005 when she began working as an X-ray technician. Then in 2006, she became an MRI technologist and remained in that position until 2011. Since then she has taken on the role of provincial quality risk co-ordinator for the Island.

Often times the rescheduling of no-show patients is handled differently by area with some taking into consideration the reason the appointment was missed and the urgency for the test, and other times sending the patient’s family doctor a note saying they missed their appointment and ask if they still want the test run.

“In those cases, some of the numbers of no-shows might not be recorded, so we could be missing a few to add to the numbers,” added Dickey.

“It’s certainly frustrating for our workers, especially after someone has contacted the person and had a discussion with them about their appointment.”

Dickey says a number of factors could lead to missed appointments like having the procedure off-Island, not updating their contact information in the P.E.I. Medicare database or not thinking ahead to cancel the appointment.

“Next time you have an appointment, double check with your doctor that they have the correct contact information for you. And if you’ve changed your phone number or address, contact P.E.I. Medicare and have it changed in the data base.”