Stakeholders' experiences, perceptions and satisfaction with an electronic appointment system: a qualitative content analysis.

Faezeh Ostadmohammadi, Ehsan Nabovati, Fatemeh Rangraze Jeddi, Leila Shokrizadeh Arani

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Article in BMC health services research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

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5citing papers in PubMed

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

Patient and carer perceptions and experiences of technology-facilitated appointment reminders in healthcare: a scoping review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2026
Article
Psychometric evaluation of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility measures for a students' online health appointment system in a university hospital in Ghana.Implementation science communications · 2026
Article
Exploring the relationship between supervisory support, self-efficacy, and satisfaction among nursing students in Saudi Arabia.PloS one · 2026
Article
Impact of Health Service Quality on Patient Loyalty in Government and Private Hospitals in the Asir Region, Saudi Arabia.Cureus · 2026
Article
Latent profile analysis of implementation outcomes and willingness to use a digital health appointment system among university students in Ghana.Digital health
Article

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5 · Who and what money

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4 authors.

Faezeh OstadmohammadiStudent Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.

Ehsan NabovatiDepartment of Health Information Management and Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.

Fatemeh Rangraze JeddiDepartment of Health Information Management and Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.

Leila Shokrizadeh AraniDepartment of Health Information Management and Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran. Shokrizadeh-L@kaums.ac.ir.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOnline appointment scheduling systems have been designed and implemented to address barriers and problems related to in-person appointment scheduling; however, these systems also face challenges and issues that require continuous evaluation and resolution. This research aimed to investigate the experiences, perceptions and satisfaction of stakeholders with an electronic appointment system and identify its problems.

methodsThis was a qualitative study conducted at a specialty Clinic in Iran during 2022-2023. A systematic purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. The participants included 10 administrative and executive users working at the Specialty Clinic, 8 physicians working at the clinic and 18 patients and visitors to the clinic. Data was collected through semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

resultsThe findings derived from the semi-structured interview data revealed that the problems with the appointment system fell into two main themes: "Problems Related to Planning and Management of the Electronic Appointment System" and "Non-managerial Problems of the Electronic Appointment System". The problems related to planning and management were divided into three categories: national-level system management, university-level system management and clinic-level system management. The non-managerial problems were classified into two groups: functional problems and non-functional problems.

conclusionsThe results of this study showed that the electronic appointment system, despite facilitating appointment processes, can be influenced by various factors and lead to stakeholder dissatisfaction. Planning, management and policymaking have a significant impact on the appointment process of healthcare centers and attention to the problems arising from it is of particular importance. Moreover, if the functional and non-functional requirements of appointment systems are unclear, the system will face many challenges.

Indexed as

Appointments and SchedulesAttitude of Health PersonnelAdultFemaleHumansInterviews as TopicIranMaleMiddle AgedPatient SatisfactionQualitative ResearchAppointments and schedulesContent analysisProblemsQualitative research

Identifiers

PMID39923062

DOI10.1186/s12913-025-12289-5

PMCPMC11807305

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND

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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.