IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v361y2024ics0277953624007974.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Improving the management of hospital waiting lists by using nudges in letters: A Randomised controlled trial

Author

Listed:
  • Murphy, Robert P.
  • Taaffe, Carol
  • Byrne, Molly
  • Delaney, Liam
  • Lunn, Peter D.
  • Robertson, Deirdre A.
  • Ryan, Helen
  • Wood, Alex M.

Abstract

A commonly adopted intervention to help to reduce wait times for hospital treatment is administrative validation, where administrators write to patients to check if a procedure is still required. The did not return (DNR) rate to validation letters is substantial. We tested whether the DNR rate was reduced by introducing nudges to validation letters.

Suggested Citation

  • Murphy, Robert P. & Taaffe, Carol & Byrne, Molly & Delaney, Liam & Lunn, Peter D. & Robertson, Deirdre A. & Ryan, Helen & Wood, Alex M., 2024. "Improving the management of hospital waiting lists by using nudges in letters: A Randomised controlled trial," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 361(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:361:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624007974
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117343
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953624007974
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117343?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Indranil Goswami & Oleg Urminsky, 2016. "When should the ask be a nudge? The Effect of Default Amounts on Charitable Donations," Natural Field Experiments 00659, The Field Experiments Website.
    2. Dolan, P. & Hallsworth, M. & Halpern, D. & King, D. & Metcalfe, R. & Vlaev, I., 2012. "Influencing behaviour: The mindspace way," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 264-277.
    3. Stefano DellaVigna & Elizabeth Linos, 2022. "RCTs to Scale: Comprehensive Evidence From Two Nudge Units," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(1), pages 81-116, January.
    4. Hallsworth, Michael & Berry, Dan & Sanders, Michael & Sallis, Anna & King, Dominic & Vlaev, Ivo & Darzi, Ara, 2015. "Stating Appointment Costs in SMS Reminders Reduces Missed Hospital Appointments: Findings from Two Randomised Controlled Trials," Scholarly Articles 22856929, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    5. Hummel, Dennis & Maedche, Alexander, 2019. "How effective is nudging? A quantitative review on the effect sizes and limits of empirical nudging studies," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 47-58.
    6. Rommel, Jens & Buttmann, Vera & Liebig, Georg & Schönwetter, Stephanie & Svart-Gröger, Valeria, 2015. "Motivation crowding theory and pro-environmental behavior: Experimental evidence," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 42-44.
    7. Gerlinde Fellner & Rupert Sausgruber & Christian Traxler, 2013. "Testing Enforcement Strategies In The Field: Threat, Moral Appeal And Social Information," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 634-660, June.
    8. Katherine L. Milkman & John Beshears & James J. Choi & David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian, 2011. "Using Implementation Intentions Prompts to Enhance Influenza Vaccination Rates," NBER Working Papers 17183, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Brian Belcher & Janet Halliwell, 2021. "Conceptualizing the elements of research impact: towards semantic standards," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-6, December.
    10. Cass Sunstein, 2014. "Nudging: A Very Short Guide," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 583-588, December.
    11. Yung-Hsiang Cheng & Yu-Chun Tsai, 2014. "Train delay and perceived-wait time: passengers' perspective," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(6), pages 710-729, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Houdek, Petr, 2024. "Nudging in organizations: How to avoid behavioral interventions being just a façade," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    2. Antinyan, Armenak & Asatryan, Zareh, 2019. "Nudging for tax compliance: A meta-analysis," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-055, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Diane Pelly & Orla Doyle, 2022. "Nudging in the workplace: increasing participation in employee EDI wellness events," Working Papers 202208, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    4. Eugen Dimant & Tobias Gesche, 2021. "Nudging Enforcers: How Norm Perceptions and Motives for Lying Shape Sanctions," CESifo Working Paper Series 9385, CESifo.
    5. Meier, Johanna & Andor, Mark A. & Doebbe, Friederike C. & Haddaway, Neal R. & Reisch, Lucia A., 2022. "Review: Do green defaults reduce meat consumption?," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    6. Holzmeister, Felix & Huber, Jürgen & Kirchler, Michael & Schwaiger, Rene, 2022. "Nudging debtors to pay their debt: Two randomized controlled trials," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 535-551.
    7. Hoover, Hanna, 2022. "Nudges as norms: Evidence from the NYC taxi cab industry," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Migchelbrink, Koen & Raymaekers, Pieter, 2023. "Nudging people to pay their parking fines on time. Evidence from a cluster-randomized field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    9. Coby Morvinski & Silvia Saccardo & On Amir, 2023. "Mis-Nudging Morality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 464-474, January.
    10. Bauer, Jan M. & Aarestrup, Simon C. & Hansen, Pelle G. & Reisch, Lucia A., 2022. "Nudging more sustainable grocery purchases: Behavioural innovations in a supermarket setting," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    11. Sylvain Chareyron & David Gray & Yannick L’Horty, 2018. "Raising Take-Up of Social Assistance Benefits through a Simple Mailing: Evidence from a French Field Experiment," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 128(5), pages 777-805.
    12. Lisa van der Sande & Ilona Wildeman & Adriana G. Bus & Roel van Steensel, 2023. "Nudging to Stimulate Reading in Primary and Secondary Education," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, April.
    13. Despoina Alempaki & Genyue Fu & Jingcheng Fu, 2021. "Lying and social norms: a lab-in-the-field experiment with children," Discussion Papers 2021-01, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    14. Eugen Dimant, 2020. "Hate Trumps Love: The Impact of Political Polarization on Social Preferences," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 029, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    15. Enrico Rubaltelli & Lorella Lotto, 2021. "Nudging freelance professionals to increase their retirement pension fund contributions," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 16(2), pages 551-565, March.
    16. Susan Athey & Kristen Grabarz & Michael Luca & Nils Wernerfelt, 2023. "Digital public health interventions at scale: The impact of social media advertising on beliefs and outcomes related to COVID vaccines," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 120(5), pages 2208110120-, January.
    17. Brade, Raphael, 2022. "Social Information and Educational Investment - Nudging Remedial Math Course Participation," MPRA Paper 113076, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Isler, Ozan & Gächter, Simon, 2022. "Conforming with peers in honesty and cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 75-86.
    19. Koch, Alexander K. & Monster, Dan & Nafziger, Julia, 2023. "Nudging in Complex Environments," IZA Discussion Papers 16137, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Antinyan, Armenak & Bertoni, Marco & Corazzini, Luca, 2021. "Cervical cancer screening invitations in low and middle income countries: Evidence from Armenia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:361:y:2024:i:c:s0277953624007974. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.