Lyndsey A. Nagy
Erkina K Sartbaeva
Gohar Khodadoost
| Lyndsey A. Nagy | Erkina K Sartbaeva | Gohar Khodadoost |
Lyndsey A. Nagy, Erkina K Sartbaeva, Gohar Khodadoost
Joan I Gluch, Tatyana Straus, John Newland
Division of Community Oral Health, Preventive & Restorative Sciences, University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine
Introduction
Many patients at community sites have social and economic determinants that make it difficult to maintain dental care. An intervention of follow-up calls was performed to increase continuity of care at a local community clinic in the West Philadelphia area, Sayre Health Center. During these phone calls, patients were surveyed to determine common impediments of dental care at this site.
Methods
Three hundred and three patients that were not seen for over 365 days since 2019 received a follow-up call. Each patient received a maximum of three calls. Patients were asked if they would like to continue their care at Sayre and were scheduled an appointment if desired. A short survey was also conducted over the phone to determine barriers that patients face in obtaining care at Sayre.
Results
Sixty-one patients scheduled an appointment and thirty patients attended that scheduled appointment. Common barriers to care were financial limitations, pandemic restrictions, insurance changes, home relocations, and demanding work schedules. Over 14.9% of patients that answered the survey questions stated they did not continue with dental treatment because they never received any notification to schedule their next appointment or had difficulty contacting the health center.
Conclusion
Since the COVID-19 pandemic took place at the end of 2019, many patients had not returned to Sayre Health Center for a dental appointment. The results of the study suggest that an indicating factor for this decline in continuity of care is lack of communication at the community health site. This may be due to patients being placed on recall and never being notified to schedule their next appointment.