TY - JOUR
T1 - Validity of patients' online reviews at direct-to-consumer teleconsultation platforms
T2 - a protocol for a cross-sectional study using unannounced standardised patients
AU - Xie, Yunyun
AU - He, Wenjun
AU - Wan, Yuting
AU - Luo, Huanyuan
AU - Cai, Yiyuan
AU - Gong, Wenjie
AU - Liu, Siyuan
AU - Zhong, Dongmei
AU - Hu, Wenping
AU - Zhang, Lanping
AU - Li, Jiaqi
AU - Zhao, Qing
AU - Lv, Sensen
AU - Li, Chunping
AU - Zhang, Zhang
AU - Li, Changchang
AU - Chen, Xiaoshan
AU - Huang, Wangqing
AU - Wang, Yutong
AU - Xu, Dong
PY - 2023/5/10
Y1 - 2023/5/10
N2 - Introduction: As direct-to-consumer teleconsultation (hereafter referred to as ‘teleconsultation’) has gained popularity, an increasing number of patients have been leaving online reviews of their teleconsultation experiences. These reviews can help guide patients in identifying doctors for teleconsultation. However, few studies have examined the validity of online reviews in assessing the quality of teleconsultation against a gold standard. Therefore, we aim to use unannounced standardised patients (USPs) to validate online reviews in assessing both the technical and patient-centred quality of teleconsultations. We hypothesise that online review results will be more consistent with the patient-centred quality, rather than the technical quality, as assessed by the USPs. Methods and analysis: In this cross-sectional study, USPs representing 11 common primary care conditions will randomly visit 253 physicians via the three largest teleconsultation platforms in China. Each physician will receive a text-based and a voice/video-based USP visit, resulting in a total of 506 USP visits. The USP will complete a quality checklist to assess the proportion of clinical practice guideline-recommended items during teleconsultation. After each visit, the USP will also complete the Patient Perception of Patient-Centeredness Rating. The USP-assessed results will be compared with online review results using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). If ICC >0.4 (p
AB - Introduction: As direct-to-consumer teleconsultation (hereafter referred to as ‘teleconsultation’) has gained popularity, an increasing number of patients have been leaving online reviews of their teleconsultation experiences. These reviews can help guide patients in identifying doctors for teleconsultation. However, few studies have examined the validity of online reviews in assessing the quality of teleconsultation against a gold standard. Therefore, we aim to use unannounced standardised patients (USPs) to validate online reviews in assessing both the technical and patient-centred quality of teleconsultations. We hypothesise that online review results will be more consistent with the patient-centred quality, rather than the technical quality, as assessed by the USPs. Methods and analysis: In this cross-sectional study, USPs representing 11 common primary care conditions will randomly visit 253 physicians via the three largest teleconsultation platforms in China. Each physician will receive a text-based and a voice/video-based USP visit, resulting in a total of 506 USP visits. The USP will complete a quality checklist to assess the proportion of clinical practice guideline-recommended items during teleconsultation. After each visit, the USP will also complete the Patient Perception of Patient-Centeredness Rating. The USP-assessed results will be compared with online review results using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). If ICC >0.4 (p
KW - quality in health care
KW - protocols & guidelines
KW - health & safety
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-071783
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-071783
M3 - Article
SN - 2044-6055
VL - 13
JO - BMJ open
JF - BMJ open
IS - 5
M1 - e071783
ER -