ReviewBMJ health & care informatics2020
Limited evidence of benefits of patient operated intelligent primary care triage tools: findings of a literature review.
Review in BMJ health & care informatics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Impact of Digitalization on European General Practice From the Perspective of General Practitioners: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled 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
- Challenges in evaluating the accuracy of AI-containing digital triage systems: A systematic review.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of a Symptom Checker App on Patient-Physician Interaction Among Self-Referred Walk-In Patients in the Emergency Department: Multicenter, Parallel-Group, Randomized, Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Evaluating digital triage symptom checker with historical triage-related adverse events.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Quality of Informed Consent and Interface Usability in Primary Care e-Consultation: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Digital Self-Diagnosis Tools: A Narrative Overview of Reviews.Mayo Clinic proceedings. Digital health · 2025Review
- Improving Safety, Efficiency, Cost, and Satisfaction Across a Musculoskeletal Pathway Using the Digital Assessment Routing Tool for Triage: Quality Improvement Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Mapping and Summarizing the Research on AI Systems for Automating Medical History Taking and Triage: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Patterns of online consultation use in Great Britain, 2019-2023: an observational analysis.BMJ digital health & AI · 2025Article
- Influences on trust in the use of AI-based triage-an interview study with primary healthcare professionals and patients in Sweden.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- The Doctors, Their Patients, and the Symptom Checker App: Qualitative Interview Study With General Practitioners in Germany.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Evaluating the diagnostic and triage performance of digital and online symptom checkers for the presentation of myocardial infarction; A retrospective cross-sectional study.PLOS digital health · 2024Article
- Evaluation of a Musculoskeletal Digital Assessment Routing Tool (DART): Crossover Noninferiority Randomized Pilot Trial.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Healthcare leaders' experiences of implementing artificial intelligence for medical history-taking and triage in Swedish primary care: an interview study.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Unveiling the heterogeneous utilisation of the same digital patient management platform: case studies in primary healthcare in Sweden.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Controlling Inputter Variability in Vignette Studies Assessing Web-Based Symptom Checkers: Evaluation of Current Practice and Recommendations for Isolated Accuracy Metrics.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Article
- Digital Triage Tools for Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Compared With General Practitioners' Advice: Vignette-Based Qualitative Study With Interviews Among General Practitioners.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Redesigning Primary Care: The Emergence of Artificial-Intelligence-Driven Symptom Diagnostic Tools.Journal of personalized medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThere is consistent evidence that the workload in general practices is substantially increasing. The digitalisation of healthcare including the use of artificial intelligence has been suggested as a solution to this problem. We wanted to explore the features of intelligent online triage tools in primary care by conducting a literature review.
methodA systematic literature search strategy was formulated and conducted in the PubMed database and the Cochrane Library. Articles were selected according to inclusion/exclusion criteria. Results and data were systematically extracted and thematically analysed. 17 articles of that reported large multimethod studies or smaller diagnostic accuracy tests on clinical vignettes were included. Reviews and expert opinions were also considered.
resultsThere was limited evidence on the actual effects and performance of triage tools in primary care. Several aspects can guide further development: concepts of system design, system implementation and diagnostic performance. The most important findings were: a need to formulate evaluation guidelines and regulations; their assumed potential has not yet been met; a risk of increased or redistribution of workloads and the available symptom checker systems seem overly risk averse and should be tested in real-life settings.
conclusionThis review identified several features associated with the design and implementation of intelligent online triage tools in a primary care context, although most of the investigated systems seemed underdeveloped and offered limited benefits. Current online triage systems should not be used by individuals who have reasonable access to traditional healthcare. Systems used should be strictly evaluated and regulated like other medical products.
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Registered trials
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.