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Doctor at your fingertips : An exploration of digital visits from stakeholders’ perspectives

Demi, Selina ; Hilmy, Samir and Keller, Christina LU (2021) In Life 11(1).
Abstract

Technological advances and the evolution of mobile technologies enable patients to meet their doctors through their smartphones. While offering the opportunity of digital visits to patients, there are also challenges for this development. The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of digital visits, as perceived by experts working in telemedicine companies. To serve this purpose, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with managers and employees in eight telemedicine companies. The analysis of the empirical data confirmed the importance of digital visits and their efficiency. The potential of digital visits is expected to increase significantly, should they make use of remote devices to transfer real-time data... (More)

Technological advances and the evolution of mobile technologies enable patients to meet their doctors through their smartphones. While offering the opportunity of digital visits to patients, there are also challenges for this development. The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of digital visits, as perceived by experts working in telemedicine companies. To serve this purpose, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with managers and employees in eight telemedicine companies. The analysis of the empirical data confirmed the importance of digital visits and their efficiency. The potential of digital visits is expected to increase significantly, should they make use of remote devices to transfer real-time data from patients to physicians. In such a case, digital visits are expected to cover approximately 70–75% of medical cases. However, the use of remote devices must be taken with caution and specific conditions need to be taken into account. We encourage researchers to perform research on promising technologies such as artificial intelligence and remote diagnostic devices, which could make more diagnoses and conditions possible to be treated by digital visits. This is even more important in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Digital visits, Remote real-time devices, Remote visits, Telemedicine, Telemedicine applications
in
Life
volume
11
issue
1
article number
6
pages
13 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:33374106
  • scopus:85098885550
ISSN
0024-3019
DOI
10.3390/life11010006
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
983bf2fb-c2ab-444e-96eb-5b67fc8cea3a
date added to LUP
2021-01-14 07:46:09
date last changed
2024-04-03 21:45:12
@article{983bf2fb-c2ab-444e-96eb-5b67fc8cea3a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Technological advances and the evolution of mobile technologies enable patients to meet their doctors through their smartphones. While offering the opportunity of digital visits to patients, there are also challenges for this development. The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of digital visits, as perceived by experts working in telemedicine companies. To serve this purpose, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with managers and employees in eight telemedicine companies. The analysis of the empirical data confirmed the importance of digital visits and their efficiency. The potential of digital visits is expected to increase significantly, should they make use of remote devices to transfer real-time data from patients to physicians. In such a case, digital visits are expected to cover approximately 70–75% of medical cases. However, the use of remote devices must be taken with caution and specific conditions need to be taken into account. We encourage researchers to perform research on promising technologies such as artificial intelligence and remote diagnostic devices, which could make more diagnoses and conditions possible to be treated by digital visits. This is even more important in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.</p>}},
  author       = {{Demi, Selina and Hilmy, Samir and Keller, Christina}},
  issn         = {{0024-3019}},
  keywords     = {{Digital visits; Remote real-time devices; Remote visits; Telemedicine; Telemedicine applications}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Life}},
  title        = {{Doctor at your fingertips : An exploration of digital visits from stakeholders’ perspectives}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life11010006}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/life11010006}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}