Redesigning Telemedicine for Traditional Chinese Medicine: Service Design Approach to Digital Transformation

With the rising global adoption of telemedicine, there is a crucial need to address inefficiencies and challenges in current service systems. This case study focused on enhancing the telemedicine service system of a traditional Chinese medicine clinic.

The primary objective was to identify and address pain points and inefficiencies in the existing telemedicine system with the aim of streamlining service operations for the benefit of both patients and service providers.

Through comprehensive service design analysis, including the creation of a customer journey map and a service blueprint, key areas for improvement were identified, and the service process was redesigned accordingly. A user-friendly web application was developed and evaluated using usability testing and satisfaction assessments. Participants took part voluntarily. Task testing was conducted using real-world scenarios, with index of item-objective congruence values ranging from 0.84 to 1.00. Participants were assigned role-specific tasks as either patients or service providers in a step-by-step format, followed by role-specific paper-based questionnaires.

The redesigned system successfully streamlined operations by automating processes and reducing task complexity, resulting in improved time efficiency for both user groups. Participants included 6 patients (aged 23-54 years) and 7 service providers from various departments. Usability testing revealed a task success rate of 100% for all tasks among patients, coordinators, physicians, and finance personnel as well as 83.33% among pharmacists. Satisfaction outcomes were positive: patients reported a net promoter score of 67, whereas service providers reported a mean System Usability Scale score of 71.4 (SD 20.76).

This study highlights the transformative potential of telemedicine in health care delivery. For patients, consolidating services into a single digital platform improved accessibility and ease of use. For service providers, the system reduced repetitive tasks and facilitated more efficient task completion. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of service design methodologies in enhancing telemedicine systems, ultimately contributing to improved health care quality and patient outcomes.