Are you Willing to see Doctors on Mobile Devices? A Content Analysis of User Reviews of Virtual Consultation Apps

摘要

Virtual doctor visiting technology has expanded dramatically around the world, which has the potential to alter the delivery of healthcare, the quality of patient experiences, and the cost of healthcare. In this study, we conducted a content analysis of the online reviews of five popular mobile healthcare systems. 257 patients' reviews of virtual consultation experience were collected and analyzed by two coders independently. This study aims at exploring why people are willing to see doctors online, examining different dimensions of healthcare quality, and recommending design features of virtual consultation systems. The results of the research show that there are different dimensions of healthcare quality in the context of virtual consultation as compared to traditional doctor visits. We generated nine factors of healthcare quality based on the content analysis, of which two factors related to convenience and consultation time (e.g., the time spent for registration, time spent for making an appointment, etc.) are most important in influencing people's satisfaction towards using virtual consultation systems. In addition, we found three critical limitations of current virtual consultation systems, which include insurance, customer service and follow-up service. The results shed light on how to improve patients' satisfaction with virtual consultation systems that would be of interest to healthcare providers. This study also broadens the academic body of healthcare quality in the context of virtual consultation that can contribute as the basis for future research.