Trust-Based Research: Influencing Factors of Patients’ Medical Choice Behavior in the Online Medical Community

Qiu, Chutong; Zhang, Yuting; Wang, Xiaoyu; Gu, Dongxiao

doi:10.3390/healthcare10050938

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…However, studies have shown that most patients only engage in the act of signing on with doctors, with only a very few actually utilizing them [ 18 ]. The results of this study indicate that the proportion of patients with multiple chronic conditions who choose to visit hospitals is still higher than the proportion of patients choosing primary healthcare institutions, indicating inadequate utilization of family doctors by patients with multiple chronic conditions [ 19 ]. Therefore, improving the utilization rate of family doctors is an important means to enhance patient trust and the clinical visit rate to primary healthcare institutions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is presently a low level of awareness among the general population regarding hierarchical medical services and family doctors in China [ 23 ], and this results in a low utilization rate of primary healthcare institutions. Therefore, efforts should be made to promote hierarchical medical services and family doctors to raise awareness among older patients with multiple chronic conditions regarding the convenience, continuity, and individualized treatment provided by primary healthcare institutions, so as to attract them to medical care at these institutions [ 19 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Choices of medical institutions and associated factors in older patients with multimorbidity in stabilization period in China: A study based on logistic regression and decision tree model

Wang,

Zhang

2023

Health Care Science

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BackgroundAs China's population ages, its disease spectrum is changing, and the coexistence of multiple chronic diseases has become the norm with respect to the health status of its elderly population. However, the health institution choices of older patients with multimorbidity in stabilization period remains underresearched. This study investigate the factors influencing the choices of older patients with multimorbidity to provide references for the rational allocation of healthcare resources.MethodsA multistage, stratified, whole‐group random‐sampling method was used to select eligible older patients from September to December of 2022 who attended the Community Health Service Center of Guangdong Province. We adopted a self‐designed questionnaire to collect patients' general, disease‐related, social‐support information, their intention to choose a healthcare provider. A binary logistic regression and decision tree model based on the Chi‐squared automatic interaction detector algorithm were implemented to analyze the associated factors involved.ResultsA total of 998 patients in stabilization period were included in the study, of which 593 (59.42%) chose hospital and 405 (40.58%) chose primary care. Our binary logistic regression results revealed that age, sex, individual average annual income, educational level, self‐reported health status, activities of daily living, alcohol consumption, family doctor contracting, and family supervision of medication or exercise were the principal factors influencing the choice of medical institutions for older patients with multimorbidity (p < 0.05). The decision‐tree model reflected three levels and 11 nodes, and we screened a total of four influencing factors: activities of daily living, age, a family doctor contract, and patient sex. The data showed that the logistic regression model possessed an accuracy of 72.9% and that the decision tree model exhibited an accuracy of 68.7%. Prediction using the binary logistic regression was thus statistically superior to the categorical decision‐tree model based on the Chi‐squared automatic interaction detector algorithm (Z = 3.238, p = 0.001).ConclusionMore than half of older patients with multimorbidity in stabilization period chose hospitals for healthcare. Efforts should be made to improve the quality of healthcare services and increase the medical contracting rate and recognition of family doctors so as to attract older patients with multimorbidity to primary medical institutions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Choices of medical institutions and associated factors in older patients with multimorbidity in stabilization period in China: A study based on logistic regression and decision tree model

Wang,

Zhang

2023

Health Care Science

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“…By analyzing the construction modes of online healthcare platforms ( 10 ) and the development of online diagnosis and treatment ( 11 – 13 ), it was found that online diagnosis and treatment services play an important role in solving the problem of offline “re-visits and drug renewal” for chronic disease patients ( 14 ). By increasing the willingness of chronic disease patients to see a doctor on the Internet, chronic disease patients can turn to enjoy online diagnosis and treatment services ( 16 , 17 ). Additionally, due to the development of science and technology, intelligent medical devices can help chronic disease patients better carry out online “re-visits and drug renewal.” Chronic disease patients can use intelligent medical devices to detect or monitor their physiological indicators anytime and anywhere, providing data for online diagnosis and treatment ( 25 , 26 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whether chronic disease patients are willing to choose online diagnosis and treatment services is still an interesting topic under research. Li and Qiu believe that if telehealth can satisfy or exceed the doctor-patient interaction level of the traditional medical treatment process, patients will turn to choose online diagnosis and treatment services (16,17). Also, doctors' response time of the first-visit has a significant impact on the re-visits behavior of the patients (18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governance mechanisms for chronic disease diagnosis and treatment systems in the post-pandemic era

Zhang

Han

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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“Re-visits and drug renewal” is difficult for chronic disease patients during COVID-19 and will continue in the post-pandemic era. To overcome this dilemma, the scenario of chronic disease diagnosis and treatment systems was set, and an evolutionary game model participated by four stakeholder groups including physical medical institutions, medical service platforms, intelligent medical device providers, and chronic disease patients, was established. Ten possible evolutionary stabilization strategies (ESSs) with their mandatory conditions were found based on Lyapunov's first method. Taking cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, the top 1 prevalent chronic disease, as a specific case context, and resorting to the MATLAB simulation, it is confirmed that several dual ESSs and four unique ESS circumstances exist, respectively, and the evolution direction is determined by initial conditions, while the evolution speed is determined by the values of the conditions based on the quantitative relations of benefits, costs, etc. Accordingly, four governance mechanisms were proposed. By their adjustment, the conditions along with their values can be interfered, and then the chronic disease diagnosis and treatment systems can be guided toward the desired direction, that is, toward the direction of countermeasure against the pandemic, government guidance, global trends of medical industry development, social welfare, and lifestyle innovation. The dilemma of “Re-visits and drug renewal” actually reflects the uneven distribution problem of qualified medical resources and the poor impact resistance capability of social medical service systems under mass public emergency. Human lifestyle even the way of working all over the world will get a spiral upgrade after experiencing COVID-19, such as consumption, and meeting, while medical habits react not so rapidly, especially for mid or aged chronic disease patients. We believe that telemedicine empowered by intelligent medical devices can benefit them and will be a global trend, governments and the four key stakeholders should act according to the governance mechanisms suggested here simultaneously toward novel social medical ecosystems for the post-pandemic era.

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“…The “personal advertisement” of physicians on the internet hospital is the first-hand objective information that patients can consult, and the “quality of advertisement” determines whether physicians can have new customers. Qiu et al’s [ 10 ] research found that factors like doctors’ medical titles, the reputation of the department where they work, the number of gifts received, and the number of patients registered after seeing a doctor have significant positive effects on choosing a doctor. According to Chen et al’s [ 11 ] research, physicians’ titles and city level weakly impact the number of physicians’ consultations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relationship Between Static Characteristics of Physicians and Patient Consultation Volume in Internet Hospitals: Quantitative Analysis

Wang,

Shi,

Wang

et al. 2024

JMIR Form Res

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Background Internet medical treatment, also known as telemedicine, represents a paradigm shift in health care delivery. This contactless model allows patients to seek medical advice remotely, often before they physically visit a doctor’s clinic. Herein, physicians are in a relatively passive position, as patients browse and choose their health care providers. Although a wealth of experience is undoubtedly a draw for many patients, it remains unclear which specific facets of a doctor’s credentials and accomplishments patients prioritize during their selection process. Objective Our primary aim is to delve deeper into the correlation between physicians’ static characteristics—such as their qualifications, experiences, and profiles on the internet—and the number of patient visits they receive. We seek to achieve this by analyzing comprehensive internet hospital data from public hospitals. Furthermore, we aim to offer insights into how doctors can present themselves more effectively on web-based platforms, thereby attracting more patients and improving overall patient satisfaction. Methods We retrospectively gathered web-based diagnosis and treatment data from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University in 2023. These data underwent rigorous analysis, encompassing basic descriptive statistics, correlation analyses between key factors in doctors’ internet-based introductions, and the number of patient consultation visits. Additionally, we conducted subgroup analyses to ascertain the independence of these vital factors. To further distill the essence from these data, we used nonnegative matrix factorization to identify crucial demographic characteristics that significantly impact patient choice. Results The statistical results suggested that there were significant differences in the distribution of consultation volume (P<.001), and the correlation analysis results suggested that there was a strong correlation between the two groups of data (ρ=0.93; P<.001). There was a correlation between the richness of a profile and popularity (P<.001). Patients were more interested in physicians with advanced titles, doctoral degrees, social activities, and scientific achievements (P<.001) as well as other institutional visit experiences (P=.003). More prosperous social activities, scientific achievements, experiences of other institutional visits, and awards were more common among people with advanced professional titles. Doctoral degrees remained attractive to patients when data were limited to senior physicians (P<.001). Patients trusted the medical staff with advanced titles, social activities, scientific achievements, and doctoral degrees (P<.001). Conclusions Patient preferences for choosing a health care provider differed significantly between free and paid consultations. Notably, patients tended to trust doctors with advanced professional titles more and were more likely to seek out those with doctoral qualifications over other professional ranks. Additionally, physicians who actively participated in social events and scientific endeavors often had an advantage in attracting new patients. Given these insights, doctors who invest in enhancing their personal and professional experiences within these domains are likely to see increased popularity and patient satisfaction.

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Trust-Based Research: Influencing Factors of Patients’ Medical Choice Behavior in the Online Medical Community

Cited by 6 publications

References 23 publications

Choices of medical institutions and associated factors in older patients with multimorbidity in stabilization period in China: A study based on logistic regression and decision tree model

Choices of medical institutions and associated factors in older patients with multimorbidity in stabilization period in China: A study based on logistic regression and decision tree model

Governance mechanisms for chronic disease diagnosis and treatment systems in the post-pandemic era

The Relationship Between Static Characteristics of Physicians and Patient Consultation Volume in Internet Hospitals: Quantitative Analysis

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