APRIL 25, 2025

Ekins Kuuzie MD  And  Shadrach Tetteh Boyetey MPhil

<aside> 🔖 This was a mini-pilot study at the Pope John Paul Medical Center. This project was run for 60 days.

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Introduction

Missed appointments are a persistent challenge in chronic disease care, particularly for conditions like hypertension and diabetes. The REMIND feasibility study set out to test whether a low-cost, mobile phone-based reminder system could improve appointment adherence among non-communicable disease (NCD) patients in Ghana. With a combination of SMS and voice reminders, the intervention aimed to reduce no-show rates and gather feedback on the feasibility and acceptability of such an approach.

Study Design at a Glance

• Participants: 37 adult NCD patients (16 in intervention, 21 in control)
• Locations: Pope John Paul Medical Center
• Intervention: Personalized SMS + voice call reminders
• Control: routine (no reminder system)
• Primary outcome: Appointment attendance
• Secondary outcomes: Patient feedback and clinical metrics

Participant Demographics

• Gender: More females than males participated
• Age Range: Majority between 55 and 75 years
• Diagnosis: Most had hypertension or both hypertension and diabetes

Who Was Most at Risk of Missing Appointments?

• Males and those with co-morbid conditions had higher no-show rates
• No-show rates slightly increased with older age, especially beyond 70