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For chronic condition management, virtual consultations are increasingly becoming expected means of care provision for their accessibility and improved convenience. Despite their rising adoption, challenges persist in maintaining effective interactions, encouraging patient engagement and supporting comprehensive clinical assessments. Emerging evidence highlights the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to support virtual care and enhance the user experience. This study presents the preliminary findings of an ongoing, multi-stage doctoral research investigating the integration of AI technologies in virtual consultations for chronic conditions with an outlook on future practices. It discusses the findings of a published scoping review, conducted in the first stage that informed the second stage, a mixed-methods investigation into the user experience of virtual consultations and their views on AI assistance. This involved semi-structured interviews (n = 10), focus groups (n = 15), and an ongoing survey (n = 83) in the Northwest region of Ireland. Emerging themes from the qualitative component indicate suboptimal quality of virtual interactions, a preference for hybrid care models, the requirement for empathy in remote care delivery, the need for holistic remote care with technological optimization and cautious AI support. These themes have informed potential evidence-based AI solutions such as personalized conversation support, insights from wearable data and personalized consultation summaries. An early proof-of-concept incorporating these features has been developed and this study outlines the subsequent steps for co-design workshops with scenario analyses to refine the prototype and explore its impact in current and future practice. By integrating rigorous mixed-methods research with novel medical futures methodology, this study aims to uncover the nuanced factors of current virtual consultations, address the relevant challenges with an evidence-based AI tool and provide actionable insights for the integration of emerging technologies in chronic care.

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Exploring the Future of Chronic Care: Preliminary Insights from a Qualitative Investigation of Artificial Intelligence Integration in Virtual Consultations

  • 会议论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Pranavsingh Dhunnoo,
  • Vicky O’Rourke,
  • Bertalan Meskó,
  • Karen McGuigan,
  • Michael McCann

摘要

For chronic condition management, virtual consultations are increasingly becoming expected means of care provision for their accessibility and improved convenience. Despite their rising adoption, challenges persist in maintaining effective interactions, encouraging patient engagement and supporting comprehensive clinical assessments. Emerging evidence highlights the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to support virtual care and enhance the user experience. This study presents the preliminary findings of an ongoing, multi-stage doctoral research investigating the integration of AI technologies in virtual consultations for chronic conditions with an outlook on future practices. It discusses the findings of a published scoping review, conducted in the first stage that informed the second stage, a mixed-methods investigation into the user experience of virtual consultations and their views on AI assistance. This involved semi-structured interviews (n = 10), focus groups (n = 15), and an ongoing survey (n = 83) in the Northwest region of Ireland. Emerging themes from the qualitative component indicate suboptimal quality of virtual interactions, a preference for hybrid care models, the requirement for empathy in remote care delivery, the need for holistic remote care with technological optimization and cautious AI support. These themes have informed potential evidence-based AI solutions such as personalized conversation support, insights from wearable data and personalized consultation summaries. An early proof-of-concept incorporating these features has been developed and this study outlines the subsequent steps for co-design workshops with scenario analyses to refine the prototype and explore its impact in current and future practice. By integrating rigorous mixed-methods research with novel medical futures methodology, this study aims to uncover the nuanced factors of current virtual consultations, address the relevant challenges with an evidence-based AI tool and provide actionable insights for the integration of emerging technologies in chronic care.