Internet-Based and Mobile-Based General Practice: Cross-Sectional Survey

BACKGROUND: Globally, mHealth is increasing as a promising technology for promoting the quality of health care. Thus, a growing number of internet hospitals have been established in China to avail all its advantages. However, no study has investigated the service scope and patient satisfaction of the internet hospital to date. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to explore the features of outpatients in general practice, the disease information, and the satisfaction through an internet rating site. METHODS: We collected data from the internet hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University between February 2016 and February 2017. Patients visited Web-based clinic via a computer or smartphone. The data included patients’ demographic characteristics, disease information, and patients’ comments. RESULTS: We enrolled 715 patients with 365 health-related problems. All health conditions involved diseases ranging from internal medicine, surgery, gynecology and obstetrics, pediatrics, dermatology, ophthalmology, stomatology to emergency. Among them, 63.1% patients (451/715) visited traditional hospitals for further management, 25.3% (181/715) had prescriptions, laboratory, or imaging examination appointment, 1% (9/715) used emergency service, and 10% (74/715) needed routine follow-up. All patients received health education. Almost all patients gave positive feedback and 4-5-star rating. CONCLUSIONS: The internet hospital is suitable for all health conditions with high satisfaction only when patients have the access to internet via a computer or smartphone.