Digital Video Consultation in Health Care - Challenges from a doctor's perspective

Abstract: Digitalization has meant changes in the way the Swedish healthcare sector operates. Nowadays, it is common to meet a doctor online. There are several studies examining patients' views on video consultations, but this study examines the challenges faced by doctors which leads to our research question: What are the challenges with digital video consultants from a doctor's perspective? The foundation of the research is based on a literature review and a qualitative research method, using semi-structured interviews. All doctors included in this paper have at least one year of experience with digital video consultations. Based on three different themes: Technical, Communication and Personal our results are that the technical aspect is the main challenge. The conventional challenges historically in the field, such as audio and video lag, are replaced with features and interoperability. If the systems are not compatible with each other and there is a lack of features, it will negatively affect the doctors personally in terms of stress and inferior communication with their patients.