On Health Production and Demand: And Why an Effective Health Industry is Vital for China (and the Rest of the World)

Tommaso, Marco R. Di; Spigarelli, Francesca; Barbieri, Elisa; Rubini, Lauretta

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-46671-8_1

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The diseases that were part of the general internal medicine department were mostly chronic, indicating that health management was in high demand. This was in agreement with previous findings from Di Tommaso et al [ 39 ]. Meanwhile, health management was vital for reducing fatality rates and disability rates.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Characteristics of Online Health Care Services From China’s Largest Online Medical Platform: Cross-sectional Survey Study

Jiang¹,

Xie²,

Tang³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

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Background Internet hospitals in China are in great demand due to limited and unevenly distributed health care resources, lack of family doctors, increased burdens of chronic diseases, and rapid growth of the aged population. The COVID-19 epidemic catalyzed the expansion of online health care services. In recent years, internet hospitals have been rapidly developed. Ping An Good Doctor is the largest, national online medical entry point in China and is a widely used platform providing online health care services. Objective This study aims to give a comprehensive description of the characteristics of the online consultations and inquisitions in Ping An Good Doctor. The analyses tried to answer the following questions: (1) What are the characteristics of the consultations in Ping An Good Doctor in terms of department and disease profiles? (2) Who uses the online health services most frequently? and (3) How is the user experience of the online consultations of Ping An Good Doctor? Methods A total of 35.3 million consultations and inquisitions over the course of 1 year were analyzed with respect to the distributions of departments and diseases, user profiles, and consulting behaviors. Results The geographical distribution of the usage of Ping An Good Doctor showed that Shandong (18.4%), Yunnan (15.6%), Shaanxi (7.2%), and Guangdong (5.5%) were the provinces that used it the most; they accounted for 46.6% of the total consultations and inquisitions. In terms of department distribution, we found that gynecology and obstetrics (19.2%), dermatology (17.0%), and pediatrics (14.4%) were the top three departments in Ping An Good Doctor. The disease distribution analysis showed that, except for nondisease-specific consultations, acute upper respiratory infection (AURI) (4.1%), pregnancy (2.8%), and dermatitis (2.4%) were the most frequently consulted diseases. In terms of user profiles, females (60.4%) from 19 to 35 years of age were most likely to seek consultations online, in general. The user behavior analyses showed that the peak times of day for online consultations occurred at 10 AM, 3 PM, and 9 PM. Regarding user experience, 93.0% of users gave full marks following their consultations. For some disease-related health problems, such as AURI, dermatitis, and eczema, the feedback scores were above average. Conclusions The prevalence of internet hospitals, such as Ping An Good Doctor, illustrated the great demand for online health care services that can go beyond geographical limitations. Our analyses showed that nondisease-specific issues and moderate health problems were much more frequently consulted about than severe clinical conditions. This indicated that internet hospitals played the role of the family doctor, which helped to relieve the stress placed on offline hospitals and facilitated people’s lives. In addition, good user experiences, especially regarding disease-related inquisitions, suggested that online health services can help solve health problems. With support from the government and acceptance by the public, online health care services could develop at a fast pace and greatly benefit people’s daily lives.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Characteristics of Online Health Care Services From China’s Largest Online Medical Platform: Cross-sectional Survey Study

Jiang¹,

Xie²,

Tang³

et al. 2021

J Med Internet Res

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“…In the last decades, China has quickly transformed itself into a modern, urban, technological and economic powerhouse [ 1 ]. The Chinese health industry and healthcare system have been showing steady signs of improvements [ 1 , 2 ], and China’s engagement with global health governance is continuously evolving [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clinical electives in China: trends, experiences, barriers

Storz

2022

Global Health

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In recent decades, China has quickly transformed itself into a modern, urban, technological and economic powerhouse. China’s medical education system is internationalizing and attracting a considerable number of foreign students seeking medical degrees and other clinical experience, such as observerships, in China. Although the majority of international students in China come from low- and middle income countries, China’s rise towards the world’s largest medical education system also offers new opportunities for stronger cooperation with European countries. Both sides maintain tight economic ties, and China’s rise is also attracting more and more medial students for short-term clinical electives from the German-speaking countries. Such clinical electives are pertinent to global health education in a globalized world, and allow students to immerse in foreign healthcare systems for a short period. Notably, reasons for (and barriers to) electives in China are largely unexplored. To address this gap, we reviewed 4 popular German elective report databases and extrapolated key characteristics of electives in China undertaken by German-speaking medical student. N = 40 elective testimonies were analyzed with regard to students’ elective experience, elective barriers and organizational aspects. The vast majority of students reported an elective in Shanghai (n = 29, 72.50%). More than 70% of students applied directly to an elective program for foreign students, whereas less than 25% applied through a bilateral exchange program. Frequently cited positive aspects of electives in China included the Chinese hospitality and the regular high-quality teaching in English for international students. Notably, almost half of student reported some kind of difficulties during their elective (n = 18, 45%), including language barriers (n = 6), administrative issues (n = 5) and visa problems (n = 2). Our data suggest that international electives in China were overall well-rated by German-speaking students. The combination of structured clinical elective programs with English supervision and the opportunity to learn more about the Chinese culture apparently attracted said students in the past 2 decades.

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Characteristics of Online Health Care Services From China’s Largest Online Medical Platform: Cross-sectional Survey Study (Preprint)

Jiang¹,

Xie²,

Tang³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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BACKGROUND The internet hospitals in China are in urgent demand due to limited and unevenly distributed healthcare resources, lack of family doctors, increased burdens of chronic diseases, and rapid growth of the aged population. The epidemic COVID-19 catalyzed the expansion of online healthcare services. In recent years, internet hospitals were developed rapidly. As the largest online medical entrance in China, Ping An Good Doctor was a national, widely used application providing online healthcare services. OBJECTIVE This study aims to give a comprehensive description of the characteristics of the online consultations and inquisitions in Ping An Good Doctor. The analyses tried to answer: (1) what are the characteristics of consultations in the Ping An Good Doctor in terms of departments and disease profiles? (2) who would use the online health services most frequently? (3) how is the user experience for the online consultations of the Ping An Good Doctor? METHODS A total of 35.3 million consultations and inquisitions in one year were analyzed with respect to the distributions of departments and diseases, the users’ portrait, and the consulting behaviors. RESULTS The geographical distribution of the usage of Ping An Good Doctor showed Shandong (18.4%), Yunnan (15.6%), Shaanxi (7.2%), and Guangdong (5.5%) were the lead provinces, which accounted for 46.6% of the total consultations and inquisitions. In terms of department distribution, we found gynecology and obstetrics (19.2%), dermatology (17.0%), and pediatrics (14.4%) were the top 3 popular departments in Ping An Good Doctor. The disease distribution analysis showed expect for the non-disease specific consultations, acute upper respiratory infection (4.1%), pregnancy (2.8%), and dermatitis (2.4%) were the most frequently consulted diseases. In terms of user portrait, females (60.4%) aged between 19 and 35 were most likely to consult online in general. The users’ behavior analyses showed the peak hours for online consultations occurred at 10:00, 15:00, and 21:00 of the day. As for the user experience, 93% of users’ feedbacks had score 5 on a 5-Likert satisfaction scale. And for some disease-related health problems, such as acute upper respiratory infection (AURI), dermatitis, and eczema, the feedback scores were above the average. CONCLUSIONS The popularity of internet hospitals, such as Ping An Good Doctor, suggested there were needs for the high quality of healthcare services which broke the geographical limitations. Our analyses showed the non-disease specific questions and moderate health problems were much more frequently consulted than the severe clinical conditions, suggested the internet hospitals played the role of a family doctor, which helped to relieve the stress of offline hospitals and facilitated people’s life. Besides, the Ping An Good Doctor had a good user experience in general, especially for disease-related inquisitions, suggesting online health services can solve health problems.

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On Health Production and Demand: And Why an Effective Health Industry is Vital for China (and the Rest of the World)

Cited by 3 publications

References 40 publications

Characteristics of Online Health Care Services From China’s Largest Online Medical Platform: Cross-sectional Survey Study

Characteristics of Online Health Care Services From China’s Largest Online Medical Platform: Cross-sectional Survey Study

Clinical electives in China: trends, experiences, barriers

Characteristics of Online Health Care Services From China’s Largest Online Medical Platform: Cross-sectional Survey Study (Preprint)

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