The Antecedents and Consequences of Health Care Professional–Patient Online Interactions: Systematic Review

Abstract

BackgroundOnline health care services effectively supplement traditional medical treatment. The development of online health care services depends on sustained interactions between health care professionals (HCPs) and patients. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the demands and gains of health care stakeholders in HCP-patient online interactions and determine an agenda for future work.ObjectiveThis study aims to present a systematic review of the antecedents and consequences of HCP-patient online interactions. It seeks to reach a better understanding of why HCPs and patients are willing to interact with each other online and what the consequences of HCP-patient online interactions are for health care stakeholders. Based on this, we intend to identify the gaps in existing studies and make recommendations for future research.MethodsIn accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a systematic retrieval was carried out from the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus electronic databases. The search results were confined to those papers published in English between January 1, 2000 and June 30, 2018. Selected studies were then evaluated for quality; studies that did not meet quality criteria were excluded from further analysis. Findings of the reviewed studies related to our research questions were extracted and synthesized through inductive thematic analysis.ResultsA total of 8440 records were found after the initial search, 28 papers of which were selected for analysis. Accessibility to HCPs, self-management, and unmet needs were the main triggers for patients to participate in online interaction. For HCPs, patient education, career needs, and self-promotion were the major reasons why they took the online approach. There were several aspects of the consequences of HCP-patient online interactions on health care stakeholders. Consequences for patients included patient empowerment, health promotion, and acquisition of uncertain answers. Consequences for HCPs included social and economic returns, lack of control over their role, and gaining more appointments. HCP-patient online interactions also improved communication efficiency in offline settings and helped managers of online health care settings get a better understanding of patients’ needs. Health care stakeholders have also encountered ethical and legal issues during online interaction.ConclusionsThrough a systematic review, we sought out the antecedents and consequences of HCP-patient online interactions to understand the triggers for HCPs and patients to participate and the consequences of participating. Potential future research topics are the influences on the chain of online interaction, specifications and principles of privacy design within online health care settings, and roles that sociodemographic and psychological characteristics play. Longitudinal studies and the adoption of text-mining method are worth encouraging. This paper is expected to contribute to the sustained progress of online heal...

Cognitive mechanisms underlying interaction and contribution in online health communities: the perspectives of doctors and patients

“…Despite the association between cognitive modes and II and AI, previous studies on the antecedents of doctor-patient interaction devoted scant attention to the effects of doctors' and patients' cognitive modes on their interaction. Researchers that mainly explored the impacts of the accessibility of health care professionals, self-management and unmet needs on patients' participation in online interactions and the effects of patient education, career needs and self-promotion on doctors' online interactions (Shang et al , 2019). To reveal the cognitive mechanisms underlying doctors' and patients' interaction behaviours in OHCs, this study demonstrates the relationships between the two cognitive modes and online interaction to understand the psychological processing underlying doctors' and patients' interaction behaviours in OHCs.…”

“…This dichotomy is suitable for the further investigation of major types of doctors' and patients' online interactions in OHCs and their related factors. Regarding the consequences of doctor-patient online interactions, previous studies have mainly investigated the effects of doctor-patient interactions on patients' health behaviours and doctors' social and economic rewards (Shang et al , 2019). Different types of online support have been found to affect users' satisfaction.…”

Visualization Analysis of Online Health Care Research Based on Citespace

“…Jiang et al pointed out that more than 70% of users pre-ferred the medical solutions provided by online medical services (Jiang et al, 2020;Lee et al, 2014). The development of online medical services has brought about the enhancement of health information acquisition, sharing and discussion between patients and doctors and patients (Archer et al, 2011); health literacy, knowledge level and self-management ability of patients were improved (Shang et al, 2019). Online medical also reduces medical costs, improves the quality and efficiency of medical services, eases the tension between medical supply and demand, and solves the aging population (Jiang et al, 2020;Ross et al, 2016); efficient and high-quality collection of patient data, logistics management of auxiliary medical institutions (Blaya et al, 2010) and many other benefits.…”

Communication Behavior Changes Between Patients With Diabetes and Healthcare Providers Over 9 Years: Retrospective Cohort Study

“…Communications between patients and health care professionals are based on a range of communication channels [ 1 - 10 ] and influenced by cultural factors [ 11 - 13 ]. Traditional channels supporting these interactions are face-to-face visits and phone calls.…”

“…This retrospective data study aims at assisting health care administrators in defining and developing new communication channels and policy makers in improving and personalizing communication between patients and health care professionals (eg, physicians and nurses). By expanding the capabilities of currently available communication channels and introducing new channels, we hope to help policy makers enhance the accessibility of health care professionals and organizations and improve the quality of patient follow-up and treatment adherence and the overall patient experience with HMO services [ 13 , 19 - 22 ].…”