SynthesisBMJ health & care informatics2026
Clinicians' and patients' views and experiences on virtual hospital care: a systematic review of qualitative evidence.
Synthesis in BMJ health & care informatics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo appraise and synthesise the literature on patient and clinician experiences with hospital-based virtual care services.
methodsWe searched Medline, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO (via Ovid) in October 2023. An updated search was performed in January 2025, with alerts maintained until May 2025. We included qualitative or mixed-methods studies evaluating patient or clinician experiences of hospital-based virtual care.
resultsOut of 15 434 identified articles, 19 studies involving 514 clinicians and 215 patients were included. The majority of the studies were from high-income countries. Our analysis identified five themes influencing virtual hospital care experiences: perceived value, confidence and readiness, digital and health literacy, therapeutic relationships, and infrastructure and system support. DISCUSSION: The potential of virtual care services is mediated by a complex relationship between personal, interpersonal and systemic factors. The acceptability of virtual hospital care is highly dependent on tailoring services to meet the individual needs of both patients and clinicians. The findings of this review demonstrate the need to improve clinician capacity and confidence through validated virtual tools and ongoing training.
conclusionTo ensure virtual hospital care is successful and equitable, the virtual health model must be co-designed with its end-users. In addition to addressing systemic barriers, emphasis must be placed on refining care delivery to support the needs of diverse patients and professions. Further research, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and through longitudinal studies, is critical for informing future health policy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.