Computer Generated Self-Care Advice via Web-Based Triage of Complaints in Primary Care

Computer generated self-care advice systems are used in health care to support self-management and to respond to an increasing demand for care. Web-based triage is an innovative system aimed at empowering patients and saving costs while maintaining the same or better quality of care. Such systems consist of a symptom driven questionnaire for minor ailments based on the criteria: high frequency, no physical contact required to assess medical situation, and the possibility to rule out emergencies. We evaluated the feasibility of such a system for self-care. A retrospective analysis was carried out among 6538 patients by investigating the frequencies of complaints that have been entered to the system and the frequencies of the kinds of generated advice; online surveys (n=192) based on behavioral theories were held to determine factors influencing compliance with generated self-care advice. Web-based triage can promote self-management for minor ailments, especially for patients who have a positive attitude towards computer-generated advice. This positive attitude leads to intentions to follow up the advice and to actual follow up. To reduce unnecessary doctors´ visits and to lower health care costs the system has to be brought more in to line with users´ needs because the systems are more medical driven than user-centered.