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Objectification of Tongue Diagnosis in Traditional Medicine, Data Analysis, and Study Application
Published on: April 14, 2023
Health Service Early-Stage Digital Adaptation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Internet Hospitals: Qualitative
Yao Wang1, Menghuan Song1,2, Zhenmiao Pang3
1State Key Laboratory of Mechanism and Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China.
Background:
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals in China are experimenting to develop internet hospitals to provide health services. To date, little is known about the characteristics of health services delivered by TCM internet hospitals.
Objective:
This study aimed to investigate the health service early-stage digital adaptation of TCM internet hospitals from the aspects of target patients, value offering, and service provision.
Methods:
Qualitative research combined qualitative interview and documentary research in this study. Interviews were completed with clinicians from sample TCM internet hospitals to investigate the target patients and value offerings. Documentary research was conducted to investigate the service provision. Thematic analysis was used to interpret all the materials collected.
Results:
A total of 7 TCM internet hospitals and 14 participants were included. The target patients of TCM internet hospitals were patients with subsequent visits and patients who sought consultations on health management. TCM internet hospitals were improving patients' adherence to subsequent medical care and TCM promotion. These hospitals provided functional service (including telemedicine, telepharmacy, telenursing, web-based health consultations, and convenient service), and TCM specialty service (including "Tianzhi" [crude herb moxibustion], "Zhiweibing" [preventive treatment of disease], and poststroke rehabilitation).
Conclusions:
TCM internet hospitals are in an early-stage digital adaptation, offering primarily basic online-offline services. While not yet fully innovative, they represent a transitional model with the potential to reshape TCM delivery. Our findings contribute high-level insights into this emerging integration and inform future development toward more structured, patient-centered digital TCM services.
