How do elderly veterans who fail to keep outpatient clinic appointments differ from those who do not.

The study asked how do elderly veterans who fail to keep appointments in the General Medicine and Surgery Out-Patient Clinics in the San Juan, VA Hospital differ from those who do not. Three hypothesis were formulated: 1. Elderly patients who fail to keep appointments have other medical alternatives in non-VA facilities. 2. Elderly patients who fail to keep appointments have a longer waiting time between appointments. 3. Elderly patients who are given appointments in various clinics within a short period of time fail to keep appointments. A sample of fifty-three elderly veterans from the Medical Out-Patient Clinics was drawn. A face-to-face structured interview was used to collect the data. The interview was designed to obtain socio-demographic characteristics, use of clinics, and recommendations to improve services. A percentage analysis was used to point out differences and similarities. The findings supported the hypothesis that patients who failed to keep appointments not only used private non-VA facilities, but also had the financial resources to pay for them. Data confirmed that those who failed to keep appointments have to wait a longer time between appointments. Patients who failed to keep appointments considered them too infrequent which resulted in forgetting the appointments.