Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Human Factors
Date Submitted: Jun 9, 2025
Date Accepted: Nov 4, 2025
Patient’s perceptions of a centralized virtual ward for remote patient monitoring in primary care: a qualitative study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) has the potential to reduce in-clinic visits and promote proactive and preventive care for patients with chronic disease in primary care. However, a decentralized approach of RPM in the primary healthcare (PHC) setting has not met stakeholders’ expectation regarding scalability. This study introduces a centralized virtual ward (CVW) model, utilizing a multidisciplinary team approach to monitor patients with chronic diseases by clinicians that do not belong to the patients PHC centre.
Objective:
To gain a better understanding of patients’ perceptions of a CVW with a multidisciplinary care team used for RPM of chronic disease.
Methods:
Methods:
In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 patients with chronic diseases enrolled at a PHC centre in Stockholm, Sweden. The RPM project ran between October 2018 and April 2019 and included a total 395 patients. Interviews followed a semi-structured interview guide and analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
Results:
Primary care patients with chronic disease expressed that their contact with the CVW felt impersonal, but at the same time secure and accessible. They noted a lack of coordination and communication between the clinicians of the CVW and their PHC providers. Captured data resulted in one overarching theme “Sense of security and accessibility, but impersonal and uncoordinated” based on five categories: sense of security, care and self-care, accessibility, quality of care and communication.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that by addressing patients´ needs for new organizational routines for patient-caregiver communication, RPM via centralized virtual wards can better realize the potential of this technology. Clinical Trial: N/A
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