Preferences for Internet Plus Nursing Services Among Nurses and Patients in China: A Systematic Review of Discrete...

Against the backdrop of an aging population, the traditional nursing model struggles to meet diverse needs. Despite the significant social benefits of internet plus nursing services, misaligned preferences between nurses and patients hinder their widespread adoption. Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are a key tool for quantifying stakeholder preferences and improving service adoption. No review has systematically synthesized evidence on patients' and nurses' preferences for internet plus nursing services.

To systematically review DCEs conducted in China that examined patients' and nurses' preferences for internet plus nursing services.

Eight electronic databases were systematically searched from inception to September 5, 2026. Two researchers used the conjoint analysis applications in the healthcare checklist to evaluate the quality of the literature. Descriptive analysis was used to summarize the data. A hybrid deductive-inductive thematic analysis was applied to classify the attributes into broad categories and subcategories, and each attribute was analyzed for frequency, significance, relative importance, and willingness to pay. The review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251172405).

A total of 11 studies from China were included, five of which had nurses as respondents and six of which had patients as respondents. A total of 63 attributes were extracted and categorized into 7 broad categories and 25 subcategories by theme. Economic guarantee-related attributes were the most common. Subgroup analyses showed that payment costs were the most common attribute subcategory among patients, whereas service revenue was the most common among nurses. In addition, nurses' preferences may vary by professional title, years of experience, and income, whereas patients' preferences may vary by income and educational attainment.

This review identified overlapping and divergent patterns in patients' and nurses' preferences for internet plus nursing services. Across these studies, both groups tended to prefer greater service safety, better service accessibility, and government or public healthcare institutions as service providers. However, patient studies indicated a preference for lower payment costs, whereas nurse studies indicated a preference for higher service remuneration. Future research should further explore the preferences of diverse populations, including people from different cultural backgrounds and informal caregivers, to enhance the broader applicability of internet plus nursing services.

Nursing administrators should refine service plans based on preferences reported by nurses and patients regarding internet plus nursing services. These plans should address the needs of both groups while promoting the efficient, balanced allocation of home-care nursing resources.