Telemedicine encounter quality: comparing patient and provider perspectives of a socio-technical system

The effectiveness of the telemedicine encounter is dependent on the use of state-of-the-art technology and the quality of the technology-based interactions. We take a socio-technical approach to understanding quality during telemedicine encounters. This approach has not been well studied in telemedicine service encounter research. To enrich understanding, we use a multimethod (direct observation, interview, focus group, survey) field study to collect and interpret a rich set of data. We conduct this study from two perspectives. First, we focus on the perceptions of the medical providers (e.g. physicians) who directly use the technology and are accountable for patient care. We then compare provider perspectives to those of patients, who act as indirect users of telemedicine technology and are the ultimate consumers of health care services provided via telemedicine. The result of this field study is a comparative framework of quality attributes for telemedicine service encounters that prioritizes the attributes from the provider and patient perspectives.