Online doctor chat – Digitalization of health care in practice: A case study
Kääriä, Jussi (2020)
Kääriä, Jussi
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020060115882
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020060115882
Tiivistelmä
Digitalization is predicted to one of the major solutions to many of the issues, that health care is facing in the future. This digital transformation is already affecting also to how health care services are being delivered and this has also implications to the work of health care professionals. Digitalization affects also on the development of telemedicine services and the purpose of this study is to investigate one form of telemedicine, online doctor chat service of a private health care company Mehiläinen, more in-depth and to provide an example of digitalization of health care in practice. The focus of this study is in the work of a medical doctor in a chat-based service model and the aim for this study is to learn about the special characteristics of treating patients through a chat-based service, learn about the advantages and shortcomings of this kind of service model and to learn more about the requirements and attributes that a medical doctor should possess in this kind of clinical work. In addition, this study aims to learn more about the overall perceptions and attitudes toward telemedicine currently, among the community of medical doctors in Finland.
A mixed method was chosen as the methodology approach for this study, with both qualitative and quantitative data collected. The qualitative data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews and the collection of quantitative data was done in the form of a questionnaire. The balance of data was chosen to be qualitative dominant. Thematic analysis was used for analyzing the data.
The results of this study showed, that there is a lot of advantages in a doctor chat service and a lot of potential for future development. This kind of service model provides efficient solution to many kinds of situations. But there are risks as well, in a general level but also for the physicians working through it. Many of these risks are connected to the characteristics of this kind of service model, that is based only on text and images. The results showed also, that the overall perception towards telemedicine can be described as cautiously curious. Adoption of telemedicine still requires time, more first-hand experiences and more emphasis on the training of medical doctors in telemedicine and eHealth. This kind of doctor chat service can still provide great value for physicians and patients and can also bring societal benefits, as long as the special requirements and shortcomings are considered.
A mixed method was chosen as the methodology approach for this study, with both qualitative and quantitative data collected. The qualitative data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews and the collection of quantitative data was done in the form of a questionnaire. The balance of data was chosen to be qualitative dominant. Thematic analysis was used for analyzing the data.
The results of this study showed, that there is a lot of advantages in a doctor chat service and a lot of potential for future development. This kind of service model provides efficient solution to many kinds of situations. But there are risks as well, in a general level but also for the physicians working through it. Many of these risks are connected to the characteristics of this kind of service model, that is based only on text and images. The results showed also, that the overall perception towards telemedicine can be described as cautiously curious. Adoption of telemedicine still requires time, more first-hand experiences and more emphasis on the training of medical doctors in telemedicine and eHealth. This kind of doctor chat service can still provide great value for physicians and patients and can also bring societal benefits, as long as the special requirements and shortcomings are considered.