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Q Bulletin, Volume 1, No. 32 (Supplement 1), Jan - Dec 202412th National QA Convention, 8 %u2013 10 October 2024QLL-61Reducing Missed Appointment among Orthodontic Patients in Orthodontic Unit,Seremban Dental Specialist ClinicSyaza MN, Siti Sakhira H, Noraliza AOrthodontic Unit, Seremban Dental Specialist Clinic, Negeri SembilanSELECTION OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT:Successful orthodontic treatment requires regular follow-up as failure to attend appointment regularly hascontributed to prolonged treatment duration, exposure to the side effect of the treatment and poorutilisation of clinical and administrative resources.KEY MEASURES FOR IMPROVEMENT:Key indicator for improvement is measured using the percentage of missed appointments amongorthodontic patients. In view of the increasing trend of missed appointments from 18.7% in 2019 to22.4% in the first quarter of 2020 in our setting, expert consensus was set to achieve 0% missedappointment among orthodontic patients in the clinic.PROCESS OF GATHERING INFORMATION:Self-administered questionnaire was developed and pre-tested prior to the actual questionnairedistribution, to identify reasons of missed appointment and to evaluate patient%u2019s awareness on effect ofmissed appointment towards dental health, treatment progression and clinical resources.ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:Two main reasons for missed appointments were due to having other commitments (36%) and forgettingabout the appointment (32%). Majority (89.4%) of patients were aware of the importance of orthodonticappointment, effect of the missed appointment towards their dental health (87.7%), orthodontic treatmentprogression (95.6%) and clinical administration (91.2%).STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE:In the first cycle, a reminder system using %u201cWhatsapp Business Message%u201d was introduced in addition totraditional appointment cards. In cycle 2, following the first reminder, a second reminder was sent a daybefore appointment. This reminder was strengthened by adding on an infographic attachment of the sideeffect of the orthodontic missed appointment.EFFECT OF CHANGE:In cycle 1, the percentage of the missed appointment reduced from 22.4% to 4.7%. Subsequently, cycle 2has shown improved appointment attendance to 0% rate of the missed appointment. The added valuesincluded improvement in organised documentation and updated patient information.THE NEXT STEP:Systematic reminders evidently increase patient adherence to orthodontic appointment and would bebeneficial to be adopted in every orthodontic unit in Negeri Sembilan.162 | Page