ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2018
Use of an electronic consultation system in primary care: a qualitative interview study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
62 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Patient-facing online triage tools and clinician decision-making: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- A theory-based analysis of the implementation of online asynchronous telemedicine platforms into primary care practices using Normalisation Process Theory.BMC primary care · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness and Acceptability of Asynchronous Digital Health in Asthma Care: Mixed Methods Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- The impact of eHealth use on general practice workload in the pre-COVID-19 era: a systematic review.BMC health services research · 2024Pooled it
- Family Physician-to-Hospital Specialist Electronic Consultation and Access to Hospital Care: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- Understanding How the Design and Implementation of Online Consultations Affect Primary Care Quality: Systematic Review of Evidence With Recommendations for Designers, Providers, and Researchers.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of Remote Consultations on Antibiotic Prescribing in Primary Health Care: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Construction of an index system for workplace services by family doctors in China: a two-round Delphi study.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Article
- No Band-Aids for papercuts: understanding and addressing challenges of administrative workload in primary care in Canada.Family practice · 2025Article
- Mobile health and hypertension in the digital era: patient perspectives on mHealth adoption and self-management in Saudi Arabia aligned with the digital health objectives of vision 2030.Asian biomedicine : research, reviews and news · 2025Article
- Digitalization of Access to Primary Care: Is There an Equity-Efficiency Trade-Off?Health economics · 2025Article
- Acceptability of Guided Symptom Entry and Asynchronous Clinical Communication Software Among Primary Care Staff: Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Differences in use of telemedicine integrated into traditional primary health care - a comparative observational study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Observational
- Seven Opportunities for Artificial Intelligence in Primary Care Electronic Visits: Qualitative Study of Staff and Patient Views.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- Factors Associated With the Availability of Virtual Consultations in Primary Care Across 20 Countries: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Telehealth for primary healthcare delivery in rural and remote contexts in high-income countries-a scoping review.mHealth · 2025Review
- Patterns of online consultation use in Great Britain, 2019-2023: an observational analysis.BMJ digital health & AI · 2025Article
- Perceived Telehealth Usability for Personalized Healthcare Among the Adult Population in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Post-COVID-19 Era.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Access systems in general practice: a systematic scoping review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Article
2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe level of demand on primary care continues to increase. Electronic or e-consultations enable patients to consult their GP online and have been promoted as having potential to improve access and efficiency.
aimTo evaluate whether an e-consultation system improves the ability of practice staff to manage workload and access. DESIGN AND
settingA qualitative interview study in general practices in the West of England that piloted an e-consultation system for 15 months during 2015 and 2016.
methodPractices were purposefully sampled by location and level of e-consultation use. Clinical, administrative, and management staff were recruited at each practice. Interviews were transcribed and analysed thematically.
resultsTwenty-three interviews were carried out across six general practices. Routine e-consultations offered benefits for the practice because they could be completed without direct contact between GP and patient. However, most e-consultations resulted in GPs needing to follow up with a telephone or face-to-face appointment because the e-consultation did not contain sufficient information to inform clinical decision making. This was perceived as adding to the workload and providing some patients with an alternative route into the appointment system. Although this was seen as offering some patient benefit, there appeared to be fewer benefits for the practices.
conclusionThe experiences of the practices in this study demonstrate that the technology, in its current form, fell short of providing an effective platform for clinicians to consult with patients and did not justify their financial investment in the system. The study also highlights the challenges of remote consultations, which lack the facility for real time interactions.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.