What can I do to reduce the number of cancellations for GI endoscopy procedures?

[1ninjanurse]

Please Help!

I work for a large & very busy family practice group of physicians as an RN who administers conscious sedation to patients receiving EGD & Colonoscopy procedures. Our patients are scheduled & given ample time to obtain the prep as well as someone to drive them to & from the office, however, we are experiencing a high rate of canellations or just plain "No Shows"! Endoscopy Procedures as well as various other minor surgical procedures, even ultrasounds & infant circumcisions are scheduled 2 days out of the week so the physicians can devote the other days to seeing their patients for office visits. I am open to any & all suggestions, especially if you work in a free standing Endoscopy clinic (outside of the hospital) or MD's office setting.

Thanks in advance!

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

Moving thread to Gastroenterology Nursing forum.

[denverasking]

This is from a patient's perspective - my GI's office called me to check in right around the time I was to start the prep for a colonoscopy to see if I had the stuff and if I had any questions. That's a pretty good place where someone might think about chickening out. It's probably also a good time to be sure the ride arrangememnts have been set.

[KimRN03]

I also agree with the other post. Our Endoscopy center used to call each and every patient a couple weeks prior to the appt. Unfortunately, this took a lot of time from Nursing staff, not to mention money. So, we started sending out a questionnaire for them to fill out listing their meds, allergies, etc. We also enclose our numbers in case they have questions. Good luck!

Kim