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Liao J, Chen Y, Cai Y, Zhan N, Sylvia S, Hanson K, Wang H, Wasserheit JN, Gong W, Zhou Z, Pan J, Wang X, Tang C, Zhou W, Xu D. Using smartphone-based virtual patients to assess the quality of primary healthcare in rural China: protocol for a prospective multicentre study. BMJ Open 2018; 8:e020943. [PMID: 29997138 PMCID: PMC6089284 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Valid and low-cost quality assessment tools examining care quality are not readily available. The unannounced standardised patient (USP), the gold standard for assessing quality, is costly to implement while the validity of clinical vignettes, as a low-cost alternative, has been challenged. Computerised virtual patients (VPs) create high-fidelity and interactive simulations of doctor-patient encounters which can be easily implemented via smartphone at low marginal cost. Our study aims to develop and validate smartphone-based VP as a quality assessment tool for primary care, compared with USP. METHODS AND ANALYSIS The study will be implemented in primary health centres (PHCs) in rural areas of seven Chinese provinces, and physicians practicing at township health centres and village clinics will be our study population. The development of VPs involves three steps: (1) identifying 10 VP cases that can best represent rural PHCs' work, (2) designing each case by a case-specific development team and (3) developing corresponding quality scoring criteria. After being externally reviewed for content validity, these VP cases will be implemented on a smartphone-based platform and will be tested for feasibility and face validity. This smartphone-based VP tool will then be validated for its criterion validity against USP and its reliability (ie, internal consistency and stability), with 1260 VP/USP-clinician encounters across the seven study provinces for all 10 VP cases. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION Sun Yat-sen University: No. 2017-007. Study findings will be published and tools developed will be freely available to low-income and middle-income countries for research purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Liao
- Sun Yat-sen Global Health Institute, School of Public Health and Institute of State Governance, Sun Yat-sen University
| | - Yaolong Chen
- Evidence-Based Medicine Center, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Yiyuan Cai
- School of Public Health, Guizhou Medical University, Guiyang, China
| | - Nan Zhan
- Department of Health Management, School of Health Management, Inner Mongolia Medical University, Hohhot, China
| | - Sean Sylvia
- Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Kara Hanson
- Department of Global Health and Development, Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Hong Wang
- Health Economics, Financing & Systems, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Judith N Wasserheit
- Departments of Global Health, Medicine, and Epidemiology, Schools of Medicine and Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Wenjie Gong
- Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Zhongliang Zhou
- School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
| | - Jay Pan
- West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiaohui Wang
- School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Chengxiang Tang
- School of Public Administration, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wei Zhou
- Hospital Administration Institute, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Dong Xu
- Sun Yat-sen Global Health Institute, School of Public Health and Institute of State Governance, Sun Yat-sen University
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