There is a roll call every hour and parents are immediately advised about nonattendance.

Targeted strategies should be implemented and evaluated using these results to reduce waiting time, doctor shopping, and ultimately nonattendance.

Results: Lack of time because of work or childcare was the most common reason for nonattendance at a screening program.

Conclusions: This is the largest study of nonattendance at outpatient clinics and the first such study carried out in Asia.

For diabetic patients, nonattendance can affect continuity of care and result in higher emergency department (ED) and hospital use.

We examined the independent associations between waiting time, doctor shopping, and nonattendance in specialist outpatient clinics of 4 large public hospitals in Hong Kong.

Nonattendance also impacts appointment scheduling, patient access, and clinic work load.

Objective: Nonattendance is a major health services research and management issue that has received little attention or systematic study in Asia.