Poor Adherence to Follow-Up and Vaccination Schedules? Well-Timed Reminders Work Wonders

For most urgent care visits, the ball is in the patient’s hand. They feel sick and can’t wait for their primary care physician or in the emergency room, so they head to your location. There are times when the urgent care operator may want to reverse roles, though, and get in touch with patients, such as to remind them it’s time for a vaccination. According to research just published by JAMA Network Open, texting has proven to be one effective way to do it. In fact, reminding healthcare workers 2 weeks before the deadline for getting vaccinated against COVID-19 improved adherence by 4.9% compared with not sending a reminder. That 2-week window seems to be the secret sauce, as the researchers found that reminders sent 4 weeks before the deadline did not improve compliance over the no-reminder group.