Physician-patient interactions in online healthcare communities: The effects of preconsultation on service delivery and patient satisfaction

Author

Qian TANG, Singapore Management UniversityFollow
Anqi ZHAO, Singapore Management UniversityFollow

Publication Type

Conference Proceeding Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

6-2024

Abstract

Preconsultation by medical professionals is a common practice in offline healthcare services to improve consultation efficiency but is rarely adopted for online healthcare services. In a noteworthy departure from this trend, a Chinese online healthcare community (OHC) has instituted preconsultation by assistant physicians prior to online consultations. Using comprehensive service data from this OHC, this study scrutinizes the effects of preconsultation on online healthcare services from both the physician and patient perspectives. The findings reveal that preconsultation by the assistant physician can significantly increase the attending physician’s response speed, length, and provision of informational support, while maintaining a consistent level of emotional support. Paradoxically, this improvement in attending physician’s service delivery is accompanied by a decline in patient satisfaction. Our findings underscore the intricate interplay between service delivery and patient satisfaction in online healthcare interactions.

Keywords

Preconsultation, Online healthcare communities, Service delivery, Patient satisfaction

Discipline

Categorical Data Analysis | Health and Medical Administration | Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing

Research Areas

Information Systems and Management

Publication

17th China Summer Workshop on Information Management: CSWIM 2024: June 29-30, Xiamen, China: Proceedings

First Page

574

Last Page

579

Publisher

CSWIM

City or Country

Xiamen

Citation

TANG, Qian and ZHAO, Anqi. Physician-patient interactions in online healthcare communities: The effects of preconsultation on service delivery and patient satisfaction. (2024). 17th China Summer Workshop on Information Management: CSWIM 2024: June 29-30, Xiamen, China: Proceedings. 574-579.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sis_research/9991

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Additional URL

https://2024.cswimworkshop.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CSWIM2024-Proceddings.pdf