SynthesisBMC health services research2024
The impact of eHealth use on general practice workload in the pre-COVID-19 era: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC health services research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline 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
- Examining patient-centered vs. doctor-centered attitudes among Austrian general practitioners : A cross-sectional study on time constraints and care orientation.Wiener klinische Wochenschrift · 2026Article
- Observational
- Policy Considerations for National Virtual Hospitals: Global Evidence and the Seha Virtual Hospital Model.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- MS360°: a conceptual digital-first, data-driven hybrid care framework for personalised multiple sclerosis management.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Review
- Clinician Perceptions of a Novel Multicomponent Digital Care Assistant and Support Program for People After Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack (CAPS) for the Secondary Prevention of Stroke: Qualitative Study.JMIR human factors · 2025Article
- Collaborating Across Organizational Boundaries to Develop, Evaluate, and Implement eHealth: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn recent years, eHealth has received much attention as an opportunity to increase efficiency within healthcare organizations. Adoption of eHealth might consequently help to solve perceived health workforce challenges, including labor shortages and increasing workloads among primary care professionals, who serve as the first point of contact for healthcare in many countries. The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the impact of general eHealth use and specific eHealth services use on general practice workload in the pre-COVID-19 era.
methodsThe databases of CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, IEEE Xplore, Medline ALL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched, using combinations of keywords including 'eHealth', 'workload', and 'general practice'. Data extraction and quality assessment of the included studies were independently performed by at least two reviewers. Publications were included for the period 2010 - 2020, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
resultsIn total, 208 studies describing the impact of eHealth services use on general practice workload were identified. We found that two eHealth services were mainly investigated within this context, namely electronic health records and digital communication services, and that the largest share of the included studies used a qualitative study design. Overall, a small majority of the studies found that eHealth led to an increase in general practice workload. However, results differed between the various types of eHealth services, as a large share of the studies also reported a reduction or no change in workload.
conclusionsThe impact of eHealth services use on general practice workload is ambiguous. While a small majority of the effects indicated that eHealth increased workload in general practice, a large share of the effects also showed that eHealth use reduced workload or had no impact. These results do not imply a definitive conclusion, which underscores the need for further explanatory research. Various factors, including the study setting, system design, and the phase of implementation, may influence this impact and should be taken into account when general practices adopt new eHealth services. STUDY REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews) CRD42020199897; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=199897 .
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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.