Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Human Factors
Date Submitted: Jul 20, 2024
Date Accepted: Apr 17, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Advancing Regional and Remote Healthcare with Virtual Hospital Implementation: A Rapid Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Health equity between metropolitan and rural areas is a global concern, especially in vast countries like Australia, Canada, and the USA. Virtual care models in healthcare settings show promise in reducing disparities, with virtual hospitals potentially bridging the gap for isolated or underserved regions. However, evidence-based strategies and the complexities of virtual hospital implementation necessitate further research.
Objective:
This research examined the role of virtual hospitals in enhancing regional and remote healthcare by focusing on accessibility, patient and provider experiences, and implementation barriers and facilitators. It provides tailored recommendations for large-scale implementation in communities with access issues, contributing to the discussion on equitable healthcare.
Methods:
A rapid review following WHO guidelines was conducted, covering 23 peer-reviewed articles and 12 sources of grey literature on virtual hospitals and virtual care-from-home services in regional and remote communities. Thematic analysis identified key themes.
Results:
The findings were categorised into four main themes: 1) Clinical and Health System Outcomes: Virtual hospitals reduced admissions, mortality, and length of stay while improving compliance, healthcare processes, and access to care. 2) Patient and Provider Perspectives: Enhanced satisfaction due to convenience, time and cost savings, and improved service delivery. 3) Barriers and Facilitators: Barriers included poor digital and language literacy, lack of coordination and communication, technical infrastructure, and financing. Facilitators addressed these issues. 4) Recommendations: Successful implementation requires stakeholder collaboration, patient-centred approaches, digital equity, sustainable funding, smart technology, and improved digital literacy.
Conclusions:
Virtual hospitals have the potential to revolutionise regional and remote healthcare by overcoming barriers, utilising facilitators, and following recommended practices, leading to better clinical outcomes and increased satisfaction for patients and providers.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.