A medical appointment reminder text message has the dentist's structure with two extra cares: it must not say why the patient is coming, and it must go to a patient who agreed to be texted. The sample below is the medical variant from the free reminder template on this site. The Cochrane 2013 review of mobile phone messaging reminders for healthcare appointments measured attendance rising from approximately 67.8% to 78.6% across 7 studies and 5,841 participants, so the text is worth sending; Kheirkhah et al. 2016 measured a mean no-show rate of 18.8% across the clinics they studied and $196 per no-show, so it is worth sending well. Consent and content rules are the practice's regulator's, and this page does not give legal advice.
The sample
Riverside Family Clinic: reminder of your appointment Tue 17 Mar at 14:30. Please arrive 10 minutes early and bring your medication list. Reply YES to confirm, or call 555 0100 to reschedule. That is the whole message: clinic, date and time, one instruction, one question. It does not name the clinician's specialty, the reason for the visit or a test result, and the practice's own rules on what a text may carry decide whether even the clinic name is right for a given patient.
The consent line the sample rests on
The text goes only to a patient who agreed, at registration or on the booking confirmation, to be reminded by text at that number, and the practice keeps the record of that agreement against the patient. The reminder template on this site carries the wording; the consent process is the practice's, under its own regulator, and a practice unsure of its rules should ask its adviser rather than a software page.
The timing and the reply
Days ahead for the first touch, when the patient can still rearrange, and the day before for the second: Dantas et al. 2018 name high lead time as a main determinant of no-shows. The YES files against the appointment, the reschedule opens the slot for the recall list, the silence is the short list to phone, and the no-show goes against the patient. The free template prints the messages a week and the hours by hand; Recallvia Pro sends email reminders under the clinic's name and records the replies.
Questions people ask about medical appointment reminder text message sample
Can I use this medical reminder text sample?
Yes, with your clinic name, date and instruction, sent to patients who agreed to be texted, under your own regulator's rules on what a message may contain. The pack on this site carries the email and follow-up variants beside it.
Should the text say what the appointment is for?
No. The date, the time and the clinic are enough for the reminder to work, and the reason for the visit is the patient's to know, not the lock screen's.
Should the text name the procedure?
No. The sample says the practice, the date, the time and the reply keyword; what a compliant message may contain is the practice's adviser's call, and a diary message stays inside it.
Sources
- Gurol-Urganci et al., Mobile phone messaging reminders for attendance at healthcare appointments, Cochrane 2013
- Kheirkhah et al., Prevalence, predictors and economic consequences of no-shows, BMC Health Services Research 2016
- Dantas et al., No-shows in appointment scheduling, a systematic literature review, Health Policy 2018