How do patients' perceptions and doctors' images impact patient decisions? Deconstructing online physician selection...

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Behavioral Economics
• Artificial Intelligence in Medicine

Background:

• The post-pandemic era faces challenges in equitable medical resource distribution and healthcare access.
• Online medical platforms offer solutions to bridge information gaps and alleviate hospital burdens.
• Understanding patient decision-making on these platforms is crucial for optimizing healthcare delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of patient perceptions of physician competence and warmth on decision-making on online medical platforms.
• To examine the moderating role of physician image (age, smile, glasses) in this relationship.
• To provide insights for improving online medical service platforms and resource allocation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized stereotype content model and signaling theory.
• Collected data from 12,890 physicians and 746,981 patient reviews on Chinese online medical platforms.
• Employed unsupervised machine learning (topic modeling) for perception extraction and convolutional neural networks for facial feature recognition.
• Analyzed data using multiple linear regression.

Main Results:

• Positive patient perceptions of physician competence and warmth significantly enhance decision-making.
• Physician attributes like age and wearing glasses amplify the positive impact of these perceptions.
• Physician smiles were found to weaken the positive effect of perceived competence and warmth on decision-making.

Conclusions:

• Patient perceptions of physician qualities are key drivers of online medical service utilization.
• Specific physician visual cues can modulate patient trust and decision-making processes.
• Findings inform the design and promotion of online medical platforms to improve patient engagement and resource distribution.