General Practitioners’ Perceptions of Whether Teleconsultations Reduce the Number of Face-to-face Visits in the Catalan Public Primary Care System: Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: eConsulta is a teleconsultation service involving general practitioners (GPs) and patients. It is part of the information system belonging to Catalonia's primary care service. It has been in operation since the end of 2015 in conjunction with face-to-face consultations with Primary Care Teams as one of the services offered in the patient's Personal Health Folder. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the ability of using eConsulta to reduce the number of face-to-face visits to Primary Care Teams. METHODS: Using 13 categories proposed by the researchers, 18 GPs from the Central Catalonia Health Region retrospectively classified 2268 cases managed with eConsulta and indicated whether, in their opinion, the teleconsultations reduced the number of face-to-face visits. RESULTS: There was broad consensus among the GPs that eConsulta has the potential to resolve patient queries for every type of consultation. eConsulta avoided the need for a face-to-face visit in 87.9% of cases. In addition, the GPs reported that the ease of access increased the demand for health care support in 27.7% of cases; otherwise, the patient would not have initiated the queries. Therefore, based on the equation (88% x [1-28%]), eConsulta could replace 63%-88% of conventional appointments. The most frequent uses of the teleconsultation service were for management of test results (35.2%), medical enquiries (16.0%), and the management of repeat prescriptions (12.2%). On average, the teleconsultations consisted of a mean 1.57 messages (SD 0.54 messages); 45.9% (1040/2268) of the teleconsultations consisted of 1 message, and the majority of the remaining teleconsultations consisted of 2-5 interactions. The patient initiated 60.0% (1361/2268) of the teleconsultations. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the GPs' perceptions, eConsulta could replace 63%-88% of conventional appointments. Therefore, asynchronous teleconsultations between practitioners and patients in primary care could avoid interactions that have limited added clinical value.
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Resolution of queries was not related to whether the consultation was initiated by the patient or clinician.
“Fewer patients felt able to provide all relevant information during e-consultation and resolution was not related to whether the consultation was initiated by the patient or clinician.”
From Effectiveness and safety of asynchronous telemedicine consultations in general practice: a systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as [46]
Fewer patients felt able to provide all relevant information during e-consultation.
“Fewer patients felt able to provide all relevant information during e-consultation and resolution was not related to whether the consultation was initiated by the patient or clinician.”
From Effectiveness and safety of asynchronous telemedicine consultations in general practice: a systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as [46]
The Methods (Variables in the Analysis; page unavailable) describe GPs’ assessments of whether eConsulta avoided a face-to-face visit, not patients’ views about providing information. The Results (page unavailable) likewise report GP assessments and consultation types. Searches for patients’ ability to provide relevant information found no passage addressing the claim. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Cites
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“46,47 It is unclear whether clinicians felt queries were resolved and what reasons existed for unresolved queries.”
BackgroundLópez Seguí, F., Walsh, S., Solans, O., Adroher Mas, C., Ferraro, G., García-Altés, A., García Cuyàs, F., Salvador Carulla, L., Sagarra Castro, M., & Vidal-Alaball, J. (2020) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/19149 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
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Self-citation
- Authors
- López Seguí, F., Vidal-Alaball, J., Sagarra Castro, M., García-Altés, A., & García Cuyàs, F.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2020-03-16
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e14478
- ISSN
- 1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7105927
- OpenAlex
- W3005275065
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6
- FWCI
- 5.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repositori digital de la UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Generalitat de Catalunya
- Institut Català de la Salut
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Healthcare Systems and Technology
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Primary Care and Health Outcomes
- Keywords
- teleconsultation, general practitioners' perceptions, face-to-face visits, primary care, asynchronous telemedicine, health information systems, test result management, repeat prescriptions, Catalonia
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Primary Health Care, Retrospective Studies, Spain, Remote Consultation, General Practitioners
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