Physicians’ and patients’ expectations from digital agents for consultations : interview study among physicians and patients

Färber, Andri; Schwabe, Christiane; Stalder, Philipp; Dolata, Mateusz; Schwabe, Gerhard

doi:10.2196/49647

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-30573

Publication type:	Article in scientific journal
Type of review:	Peer review (publication)
Title:	Physicians’ and patients’ expectations from digital agents for consultations : interview study among physicians and patients
Authors:	Färber, Andri Schwabe, Christiane Stalder, Philipp Dolata, Mateusz Schwabe, Gerhard
et. al:	No
DOI:	10.2196/49647 10.21256/zhaw-30573
Published in:	JMIR Human Factors
Volume(Issue):	11
Issue:	e49647
Issue Date:	18-Mar-2024
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	JMIR Publications
ISSN:	2292-9495
Language:	English
Subjects:	Adherence to treatment; Mobile phone; Digital agents; eHealth; mHealth; Electronic medical records; Health literacy; Mobile health
Subject (DDC):	302.2: Communication 610: Medicine and health
Abstract:	Background: Physicians are currently overwhelmed by administrative tasks and spend very little time in consultations with patients, which hampers health literacy, shared decision-making, and treatment adherence. Objective: This study aims to examine whether digital agents constructed using fast-evolving generative artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, have the potential to improve consultations, adherence to treatment, and health literacy. We interviewed patients and physicians to obtain their opinions about 3 digital agents—a silent digital expert, a communicative digital expert, and a digital companion (DC). Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with 25 patients and 22 physicians from a purposeful sample, with the patients having a wide age range and coming from different educational backgrounds and the physicians having different medical specialties. Transcripts of the interviews were deductively coded using MAXQDA (VERBI Software GmbH) and then summarized according to code and interview before being clustered for interpretation. Results: Statements from patients and physicians were categorized according to three consultation phases: (1) silent and communicative digital experts that are part of the consultation, (2) digital experts that hand over to a DC, and (3) DCs that support patients in the period between consultations. Overall, patients and physicians were open to these forms of digital support but had reservations about all 3 agents. Conclusions: Ultimately, we derived 9 requirements for designing digital agents to support consultations, treatment adherence, and health literacy based on the literature and our qualitative findings.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/30573
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	CC BY 4.0: Attribution 4.0 International
Departement:	School of Management and Law
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Business Information Technology (IWI)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen School of Management and Law

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Färber, A., Schwabe, C., Stalder, P., Dolata, M., & Schwabe, G. (2024). Physicians’ and patients’ expectations from digital agents for consultations : interview study among physicians and patients. JMIR Human Factors, 11(e49647). https://doi.org/10.2196/49647

Färber, A. et al. (2024) ‘Physicians’ and patients’ expectations from digital agents for consultations : interview study among physicians and patients’, JMIR Human Factors, 11(e49647). Available at: https://doi.org/10.2196/49647.

A. Färber, C. Schwabe, P. Stalder, M. Dolata, and G. Schwabe, “Physicians’ and patients’ expectations from digital agents for consultations : interview study among physicians and patients,” JMIR Human Factors, vol. 11, no. e49647, Mar. 2024, doi: 10.2196/49647.

FÄRBER, Andri, Christiane SCHWABE, Philipp STALDER, Mateusz DOLATA und Gerhard SCHWABE, 2024. Physicians’ and patients’ expectations from digital agents for consultations : interview study among physicians and patients. JMIR Human Factors. 18 März 2024. Bd. 11, Nr. e49647. DOI 10.2196/49647

Färber, Andri, Christiane Schwabe, Philipp Stalder, Mateusz Dolata, and Gerhard Schwabe. 2024. “Physicians’ and Patients’ Expectations from Digital Agents for Consultations : Interview Study among Physicians and Patients.” JMIR Human Factors 11 (e49647). https://doi.org/10.2196/49647.

Färber, Andri, et al. “Physicians’ and Patients’ Expectations from Digital Agents for Consultations : Interview Study among Physicians and Patients.” JMIR Human Factors, vol. 11, no. e49647, Mar. 2024, https://doi.org/10.2196/49647.