The Impact of Voice versus Text Messaging on Patient-Perceived Outcomes in Online Medical Consultations
Subject
Marketing
Publishing details
Social Sciences Research Network
Authors / Editors
Zhang Xu; Zhang Yi
Biographies
Publication Year
2024
Abstract
Healthcare quality relies crucially on effective communication between providers and patients. The rise of digital healthcare has expanded communication modalities, including text, voice, and video, promising improved accessibility and equity. This study investigates how doctors' use of voice messaging compared to text messaging affects patient-perceived outcomes in online medical consultations. Using a unique dataset from a leading online consultation platform in China with over 80,000 doctor-patient interactions, we examine patient-perceived outcomes, including expressed gratitude, intended adherence, and post-consultation gift-giving. With text analysis and an instrumental variable approach, we find that voice messaging significantly improves patientperceived outcomes across all measures. This improvement is driven by the additional information and emotional support that doctors provide through voice messages, which patients greatly value, with informational support contributing about ten times more than emotional support. Moreover, the positive impact of voice messaging is significant in hypertension consultations but disappears in consultations for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), likely due to the higher likelihood of embarrassment experienced in STD consultations. These findings have important implications for policymakers and digital healthcare platforms, highlighting the need to consider the critical role of communication modalities in enhancing patient care.
Keywords
Online Healthcare; Communication Modality; Patient-Perceived Outcomes; Medical Consultations; Digital Platforms
Series
Social Sciences Research Network
Available on ECCH
No
