JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

There is a global trend of increasing waiting times for publicly funded specialist care in countries with universal healthcare, especially for chronic conditions. This challenge calls for practices to manage waiting patients, which we refer to as patient onboarding practices (POPs).

Objective:

This scoping review explores existing POPs, focusing on the role of health information technologies (HITs) and the outcomes achieved by these POPs.

Methods:

We conducted a scoping review guided by the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. We searched five databases, including Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and CINAHL, using medical subject heading and keywords such as referral, consultation, appointment, scheduling, waiting list, addiction, remote consultation, telemedicine, teleconsultation, telehealth, videoconferencing, video-conferencing, remote patient monitoring, remote monitoring, technology, excluding emergency or psychology.

Results:

Through the analysis of 24 included literature, we discovered that the majority of POPs focused on information exchange and referral management, utilizing HITs such as teleconsultation, remote EMR, and referral management systems. We also observed an emerging emphasis on supporting patient self-management during the waiting period. Our findings showed that current usage of HITs leans heavily on information exchange and referral management for the purposes of improving referral efficiency and reducing waiting times.

Conclusions:

Although there is an emerging trend in developing proprietary applications to support patients in managing their health, their effectiveness is yet to be explored. We suggest that future research for supporting patients awaiting specialist care should focus more on coaching and empowering health management.