Background: Virtual consultation has been proposed as a promising tool to improve the coordination and quality of healthcare between primary and specialised care. However, despite its potential facilitators, the evidence on the usefulness of virtual consultation for improving healthcare quality domains is fragmented and unclear. This scoping review aims to assess the impact of virtual consultation on different healthcare quality domains.
Material And Methods: We conducted a scoping review with a rigorous search strategy on PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases. The inclusion criteria were original articles, reviews, meta-analyses or letters to the editor, published between 1 January 2017 and 24 June 2022, and available in English, Spanish or French. For each of the articles selected, we identified the addressed healthcare quality domains, their facilitators and barriers, areas of improvement and data gaps. We have adhered to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Review reporting standards.
Results: 1284 manuscripts were retrieved. Finally, 235 papers were included in this review, most of which were original, descriptive studies. The most evaluated quality domain was effectiveness (223 articles). Safety and patient-centred care were the least evaluated. Simultaneous assessment of more than one domain was observed in 117 papers, being effectiveness and timeliness the most frequent combination. Our analysis revealed that virtual consultation is in development and underused. This tool has the potential to improve access to specialised care and enhance coordination between professionals.
Conclusions: Virtual consultation has the potential to provide effective, efficient, equitable and timely attention. However, its contribution to safety and patient-centered care needs further evaluation. Our review emphasises the need for more rigorous research and standardised quality assessment criteria to obtain robust evidence on the usefulness of virtual consultation for improving healthcare quality domains.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2023-002388 | DOI Listing |
Sudan J Paediatr
January 2024
Assistant Professor of Statistics, College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain.
Simulation in medical education improves clinical competence. The Diagnostic Clinical Reasoning Program (DxR), a web-based simulated patient cases software, augments students' clinical skills in a virtual hospital setting. In the Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain, it is used to train medical students before they begin the clinical clerkship.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTech Coloproctol
January 2025
Ellen Leifer Shulman and Steven Shulman Digestive Disease Center, Cleveland Clinic Florida, 2950 Cleveland Clinic Blvd, Weston, FL, USA.
Introduction: Chatbots have been increasingly used as a source of patient education. This study aimed to compare the answers of ChatGPT-4 and Google Gemini to common questions on benign anal conditions in terms of appropriateness, comprehensiveness, and language level.
Methods: Each chatbot was asked a set of 30 questions on hemorrhoidal disease, anal fissures, and anal fistulas.
Injury
January 2025
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cedars - Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address:
Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine what demographic and anatomical variables affect successful placement of a superior medullary ramus screw, and how they affect the maximal diameter of that screw.
Methods: Design: Prognostic Level IV SETTING: Level I Trauma Center Patients/Participants: Two hundred consecutive patients underwent computed tomography (CT) of the pelvis. We included those patients aged 18 and older without osseous injury or abnormalities precluding measurement.
J Clin Med
January 2025
School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0SP, UK.
Virtual preoperative anaesthetic assessments can significantly reduce healthcare costs and improve patient convenience. The challenge with virtual consults is often the airway assessments, which screen for potentially difficult airways (PDAs). The objective of this pilot study was to determine the reliability of standard airway screening tests for detecting PDAs when conducted virtually.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Med Inform Decis Mak
January 2025
Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin, Taiwan.
Background: In medical education, enhancing thinking skills is vital. The Virtual Diagnosis and Treatment Platform (VP) refines medical students' diagnostic abilities through interactive patient interviews (simulated patient interactions). By analyzing the questions asked during these interviews, the VP evaluates students' aptitude in medical history inquiries, offering insights into their thinking capabilities.
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