Reducing outpatient wait times through telemedicine: a systematic review and quantitative analysis
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View abstract on PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.Telemedicine significantly reduces healthcare waiting times, saving an average of 25.4 days. This technology offers a promising solution for improving access to care and enhancing health system efficiency.
Area Of Science
- Health Services Research
- Digital Health
- Healthcare Management
Background
- Population ageing and chronic diseases strain healthcare systems.
- Resource scarcity leads to inequitable access and prolonged waiting times, especially in rural areas.
- Telemedicine presents a potential solution for remote and equitable healthcare delivery.
Purpose Of The Study
- To quantitatively assess the impact of telemedicine on patient waiting times.
- To define waiting times as the period from outpatient visit booking to service administration.
- To systematically review existing literature on telemedicine interventions and their effect on wait times.
Main Methods
- Systematic review of studies on telemedicine interventions addressing waiting times.
- Inclusion of articles from PubMed and Scopus databases.
- Bias assessment using ROBINS-I, AXIS, and RoB-2 tools; synthesis via weighted mean and median approaches.
Main Results
- A weighted mean reduction of 25.4 days in overall waiting times was observed.
- Clinical specialties saw a weighted mean reduction of 34.7 days.
- Surgical patients experienced a weighted mean reduction of 17.3 days in waiting times.
Conclusions
- Telemedicine implementation can substantially decrease healthcare waiting times.
- This improvement contributes to more efficient and equitable healthcare systems.
- Telemedicine holds potential for bridging healthcare access gaps and improving patient outcomes.
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