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Article
Publication date: 29 April 2021

Prachi Verma, Satinder Kumar and Sanjeev K. Sharma

This article initially aims to explore the factors of every quality construct of the 5Qs model of service quality and, second, identify the significant factors affecting the total…

Abstract

Purpose

This article initially aims to explore the factors of every quality construct of the 5Qs model of service quality and, second, identify the significant factors affecting the total quality of e-healthcare services and its association with consumer satisfaction using a multidimensional hierarchical 5Qs model of e-healthcare service quality.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaire-oriented research was performed at three public hospitals of Punjab and Chandigarh. In total, 53 variables were covered in all quality constructs for data collection from the designated public hospitals. The respondents who agreed to have knowledge regarding e-Healthcare services and were availing these services were included in the study. The analysis comprised structural equation modeling technique using AMOS 21.

Findings

The outcomes suggest that the 5Qs model is more comprehensive and can be used to evaluate service quality perceptions using e-Healthcare services. The research identified 11 sub-dimensions for the five quality constructs of the 5Qs model, representing total quality, which is primary to consumer satisfaction. “Overall objectivity” and “technical objectivity” defined the quality of object. The quality of process of e-Healthcare services was characterized by “functionality,” “timeliness” and “responsiveness.” Quality of infrastructure was defined by “technical infrastructure,” “physical infrastructure,” “manpower skills” and “organizational infrastructure.” “Manner of interaction” and “timely interaction” defined the quality of interaction. The atmosphere was represented by only one factor. The results also suggest that quality of infrastructure, quality of interaction and quality of atmosphere play the most significant role in total quality leading to consumer satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

Theoretical implications: The multidimensional hierarchical model will help the researchers study the e-Healthcare service quality in a more organized manner, and the outcomes of this study can be linked with that of future studies for more generalized application in other public hospitals. The sub-dimensions of each quality construct of the 5Qs model can be applied in private hospitals, and the hierarchical model can be tested in different industries to measure service quality perceptions of the consumer

Practical implications

The outcomes of the study can be applied in various public sector hospitals to redesign the e-Healthcare services based on consumers' perception for better consumer satisfaction and quality services. This paper identifies the role of each quality construct in e-Healthcare services for improvement in the total quality, which in turn will lead to higher satisfaction for the consumers.

Originality/value

In this study, the original 5Qs model has been used for the first time in a new instrument to understand better and design quality e-Healthcare services. The paper explores the sub-factors of each quality construct and its significance in measuring the total quality.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 July 2020

Prachi Verma, Satinder Kumar and Sanjeev K. Sharma

Use of technology for quality healthcare services has developed into a new field known as “e-Healthcare services.” Healthcare providers often judge their quality of services with…

Abstract

Purpose

Use of technology for quality healthcare services has developed into a new field known as “e-Healthcare services.” Healthcare providers often judge their quality of services with consumer satisfaction. With e-Healthcare services, consumer satisfaction is influenced by the quality of healthcare services provided and the demographic characteristics. The purpose of the present case study is to recognize the important predictors of quality, which are significant for consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services by using Zineldin's 5Qs model. It also aims to find the strength of association among the predictors of consumer satisfaction and the demographic characteristics of the respondents.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire-based study was conducted at a public (PGIMER, Chandigarh) and a private hospital (Fortis Hospital, Mohali) of Punjab, India, from February 2018 to March 2019. The structured, closed-ended questionnaire, to be marked on a 1–5 point Likert scale, was adapted from Zineldin's 5Qs model and was distributed to the respondents sitting in the waiting halls of the selected hospitals. The respondents comprised of both the patients and their attendants who were aware of e-Healthcare services and were using them.

Findings

The analysis identified quality of interaction, quality of hospital atmosphere and quality of object to be the key predictors of consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services. The results reveal a strong association between different demographic characteristics and overall consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services.

Practical implications

The results suggest that improvements in the quality of interaction, quality of hospital atmosphere and quality of object may result in higher consumer satisfaction with e-Healthcare services. Working on the identified dimensions of quality will help the e-Healthcare providers in identifying functional problems of e-Healthcare services and developing improvement strategies, which will also result in better health and quality outcomes. The results of this study will help the e-Healthcare providers in better segmentation of e-Healthcare consumers based on their demographic characteristics and in developing better marketing strategies.

Originality/value

This paper focuses on the quality of e-Healthcare services only and attempts to identify the quality dimensions, which leads to the satisfaction of e-Healthcare consumers. The identified quality dimensions will help in designing better e-Healthcare services and framing policies. It also highlights the association of demographic characteristics with important quality dimensions.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 November 2007

Avinandan Mukherjee and John McGinnis

Healthcare is among the fastest‐growing sectors in both developed and emerging economies. E‐healthcare is contributing to the explosive growth within this industry by utilizing…

3105

Abstract

Purpose

Healthcare is among the fastest‐growing sectors in both developed and emerging economies. E‐healthcare is contributing to the explosive growth within this industry by utilizing the internet and all its capabilities to support its stakeholders with information searches and communication processes. The purpose of this paper is to present the state‐of‐the‐art and to identify key themes in research on e‐healthcare.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of the literature in the marketing and management of e‐healthcare was conducted to determine the major themes pertinent to e‐healthcare research as well as the commonalities and differences within these themes.

Findings

Based on the literature review, the five major themes of e‐healthcare research identified are: cost savings; virtual networking; electronic medical records; source credibility and privacy concerns; and physician‐patient relationships.

Originality/value

Based on these major themes, managerial implications for e‐healthcare are formulated. Suggestions are offered to facilitate healthcare service organizations' attempts to further implement and properly utilize e‐healthcare in their facilities. These propositions will also help these stakeholders develop and streamline their e‐healthcare processes already in use. E‐healthcare systems enable firms to improve efficiency, to reduce costs, and to facilitate the coordination of care across multiple facilities.

Details

International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, vol. 1 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6123

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 August 2017

Bennie Wong, G.T.S. Ho and Eric Tsui

In view of the elderly caregiving service being in high demand nowadays, the purpose of this paper is to develop an intelligent e-healthcare system for the domestic care industry…

1003

Abstract

Purpose

In view of the elderly caregiving service being in high demand nowadays, the purpose of this paper is to develop an intelligent e-healthcare system for the domestic care industry by using the Internet of Things (IoTs) and Fuzzy Association Rule Mining (FARM) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The IoTs connected with the e-healthcare system collect real-time vital sign monitoring data for the e-healthcare system. The FARM approach helps to identify the hidden relationships between the data records in the e-healthcare system to support the elderly care management tasks.

Findings

To evaluate the proposed system and approach, a case study was carried out to identify the association between the specific collected demographic data, behavior data and the health measurements data in the e-healthcare system. It is found that the discovered rules are useful for the care management tasks in the elderly healthcare service.

Originality/value

Knowledge discovery in databases uses various data mining techniques and rule-based artificial intelligence algorithms. This paper demonstrates complete processes on how an e-healthcare system connected with IoTs can support the elderly care services via a data collection phase, data analysis phase and data reporting phase by using the FARM to evaluate the fuzzy sets of the data attributes. The caregivers can use the discovered rules for proactive decision support of healthcare services and to improve the overall service quality by enhancing the elderly healthcare service responsiveness.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 117 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 December 2020

Prachi Verma, Satinder Kumar and Sanjeev K. Sharma

This study aims to explore the different dimensions of e-healthcare ethics and their relationships, influencing the ethical concerns of the consumer in making ethical e-healthcare

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the different dimensions of e-healthcare ethics and their relationships, influencing the ethical concerns of the consumer in making ethical e-healthcare choices.

Design/methodology/approach

A study was conducted at two identified major hospitals of Punjab (a private hospital) and Chandigarh (a public hospital), India providing e-healthcare services with the help of a self-administered questionnaire. The respondents were identified from the waiting areas of the selected hospitals, and only those respondents were selected for the study, who agreed to be aware of e-health services and were using them for some time. The statistical analysis was done using the structural equation modeling technique and included both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using SPSS 20 and AMOS 21.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis extracted five dimensions of ethical concerns of the consumer, which include service promotion, content quality, candor, professionalism and confidentiality. The results signify that content quality plays a significant role in ethics, followed by candor, service promotion and confidentiality. However, the relationship with professionalism did not prove to be significant for the ethical concerns of the e-health consumer.

Practical implications

This research delivers a practical significance in identifying the critical dimensions of the ethical concerns of the consumer while selecting e-health services. It gives an insight into the various dimensions, which should be considered by the e-health providers while crafting e-health services to make it more ethically acceptable by the consumers.

Originality/value

By using e-health services, consumers play an active role in their health-care decisions. The consumers need to consider ethics while choosing health-care services as an ethical judgment will also be the correct judgment. This study helps in the identification of the significant dimensions for the ethical concerns of the consumers.

Details

International Journal of Ethics and Systems, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9369

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 April 2022

Khatereh Ghasemzadeh, Octavio Escobar, Zornitsa Yordanova and Manuel Villasalero

The study examines the amplifying role of users in the e-healthcare sector and holistically show its current state and potential. The paper aims at contributing to the scientific…

1573

Abstract

Purpose

The study examines the amplifying role of users in the e-healthcare sector and holistically show its current state and potential. The paper aims at contributing to the scientific literature with a comprehensive review of the current state of the art on the application of user innovation (UI) in the e-healthcare sector, as a solid step for discussing the potential, trends, managerial gaps and future research avenues in this field. Despite the crucial importance of the topic and increasing attention toward it in the last few years, there is a lack of comprehensive scrutiny on different angles of involving users in health technology innovations so far.

Design/methodology/approach

This study combines two methods of bibliometric analysis and extensive content analysis of 169 journal articles on Scopus and Web of Science to unfold five research questions regarding the mechanisms of involving users, innovations characteristics and the role of users throughout the innovation process.

Findings

A clear result of the applied methodology is the profiling of users involved in e-health innovations in seven categories. The results of this study shed light on the current practice of not involving users in all the stages of the innovation process of m-health, telemedicine, self-managing technologies, which is contrary to the best practices of the UI application.

Research limitations/implications

Collection of relevant studies due to lack of comprehensibility of the keywords.

Practical implications

The offered propositions can act as a roadmap to potential research opportunities as well as to organize such innovations from a managerial perspective in particular healthcare organization managers and the middle managers operating at R&D sectors and policymakers.

Originality/value

This study is the first of its kind that digs out the application of UI strategies such as user-centered design in the context of e-healthcare and provides a bibliometric and extensive content analysis of the studies conducted in this theme over the years.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 25 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2019

Partha Pratim Ray, Dinesh Dash and Debashis De

Background: Every so often, one experiences different physically unstable situations which may lead to possibilities of suffering through vicious physiological risks and extents…

Abstract

Purpose

Background: Every so often, one experiences different physically unstable situations which may lead to possibilities of suffering through vicious physiological risks and extents. Dynamic physiological activities are such a key metric that they are perceived by means of measuring galvanic skin response (GSR). GSR represents impedance of human skin that frequently changes based on different human respiratory and physical instability. Existing solutions, paved in literature and market, focus on the direct measurement of GSR by two sensor-attached leads, which are then parameterized against the standard printed circuit board mechanism. This process is sometimes cumbersome to use, resulting in lower user experience provisioning and adaptability in livelihood activities. The purpose of this study is to validate the novel development of the cost-effective GSR sensing system for affective usage for smart e-healthcare.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes to design and develop a flexible circuit strip, populated with essential circuitry assemblies, to assess and monitor the level of GSR. Ordinarily, this flexible system would be worn on the back palm of the hand where two leads would contact two sensor strips worn on the first finger.

Findings

The system was developed on top of Pyralux. Initial goals of this work are to design and validate a flexible film-based GSR system to detect an individual’s level of human physiological activities by acquiring, amplifying and processing GSR data. The measured GSR value is visualized “24 × 7” on a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone via a pre-incorporated application. Conclusion: The proposed sensor-system is capable of raising the qualities such as adaptability, user experience, portability and ubiquity for possible application of monitoring of human psychodynamics in a more cost-effective way, i.e. less than US$50.

Practical implications

Several novel attributes are envisaged in the development process of the GSR system that made it different from and unique as compared to the existing alternatives. The attributes are as follows: (i) use of reproductive sensor-system fabrication process, (ii) use of flexible-substrate for hosting the system as proof of concept, (iii) use of miniaturized microcontroller, i.e. ATTiny85, (iv) deployment of energy-efficient passive electrical circuitry for noise filtering, (v) possible use case scenario of using CR2032 coin battery for provisioning powering up the system, (vi) provision of incorporation of internet of things (IoT)-cloud integration in existing version while fixing related APIs and (vii) incorporation of heterogeneous software-based solutions to validate and monitor the GSR output such as MakerPlot, Arduino IDE, Fritzing and MIT App Inventor 2.

Originality/value

This paper is a revised version R1 of the earlier reviewed paper. The proposed paper provides novel knowledge about the flexible sensor system development for GSR monitoring under IoT-based environment for smart e-healthcare.

Details

Sensor Review, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0260-2288

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 September 2007

Subhasis Ray and Amitava Mukherjee

The purpose of this paper is to explore the route map for employing efficient e‐governance so that at least existing resource and infrastructure are better utilized and…

3355

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the route map for employing efficient e‐governance so that at least existing resource and infrastructure are better utilized and deficiencies are tracked for future planning. National health is one of the most important factors in a country's economic growth. India seems to be a victim of the vicious cycle around poor economy and poor health conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

A detailed study was carried out to find out India's healthcare infrastructure and its standing in e‐governance initiatives. After consolidating the fact that effective e‐governance can enhance the quality of healthcare service even within limited resources, authors explored success and failure factors of many e‐governance initiatives in India and abroad. Finally, an e‐governance framework is suggested based on the above factors together with the authors' own experience of implementing e‐governance projects in India and abroad.

Findings

The suggested framework is based on a phased implementation approach. The first phase “Information Dissemination” is more geared towards breaking the “digital divide” across three dimensions: G2Business; G2Citizen; and G2Agent. The most advanced stage is aimed towards joining up healthcare information across the above three dimensions and drawing meaningful analytics out of it. The recommendations also include management of Policies, Scope, Process Reform, Infrastructure, Technology, Finance, Partnership and People for efficient implementation of such e‐governance initiatives.

Research limitations/implications

The paper provides measures for continuous evaluation of systems as one passes through various stages of implementation. However, the framework can be tested on real or simulated environment to prove its worthiness.

Practical implications

This paper can be a potential frame of reference for nation‐wide e‐healthcare projects not only in India but also in other developing countries. The paper also describes challenges that are most likely to be faced during implementation.

Originality/value

Since the paper is practical in nature, the real appeal will be to practitioners who are responsible for implementation of large e‐governance initiatives for improving healthcare services.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 20 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2015

Xi Zhang, Xiangda Yan, Patricia Ordóñez de Pablos, jinghuai She, Yang Gao and Hui Chen

– This paper aims to provide clear domain knowledge and recent progresses on electronic healthcare (e-healthcare).

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide clear domain knowledge and recent progresses on electronic healthcare (e-healthcare).

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the authors use citation analysis to describe the trends of study on e-health with the help of CiteSpace II, a software for visualizing citation-based analysis. By analyzing the 2,752 publications and their citation data in ISI database, the authors proposed renewable figures and tables on ranking critical people, institutes, keywords and journals. Through the most influential articles given by CiteSpace, the authors can grasp the main direction in e-health researches. Furthermore, the authors analyzed the literature at e-health literacy as a case, to better understand the development of research viewpoints.

Findings

Through the analysis, the authors found that e-health is a multi-disciplinary research field and the major research about it has changed. During the early stage, health information quality on the Internet dominates. Gradually, the role of information technology (IT) becomes more important. The authors also found that some researchers, recently, have proposed the effects of IT on e-health literacy which can then improve the ability to use health information on the Internet.

Research limitations/implications

This paper has some research limitations, such as using an ISI database with most English publications. The future research may be conducted for collecting local publications data in China. It also has some implications. Based on the results, the authors claimed that IT may significantly improve people’s healthcare variance, e.g. e-health literacy. It is necessary to build new IT-based healthcare theories.

Practical implications

This paper also has some practical implications. Practitioners and institute may easily come to know which are the hot topics, top institutes and tendencies in the e-healthcare field.

Social implications

This paper may help practitioners to find common interests with other institutions and societies.

Originality/value

This paper reported the status and trend of research in this field visually, and the result will help researchers to do more in-depth research in the future.

Details

Journal of Science & Technology Policy Management, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4620

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 19 July 2023

Samrat Ray, Elena Viktorovna Korchagina, Rohini U. Nikam and Roop Kishore Singhal

This chapter proposes a new architecture to address challenges to security and the privacy in e-healthcare under Industry 5.0. With the growing needs for high-quality medical…

Abstract

This chapter proposes a new architecture to address challenges to security and the privacy in e-healthcare under Industry 5.0. With the growing needs for high-quality medical treatment and the continuously growing costs of treating global medical problems, systems and web-based medical care are regarded as innovative solutions. In particular, the new progress in Internet of Things (IoT) has led to the development of Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). The patient history data is handled and processed remotely in real-time rather than visiting any clinic and then having that data transferred for subsequent use to third parties, such as data that gets saved in the cloud. This patient data faced security threats and it is observed as major limitations of using such systems in Industry 5.0. This chapter analyzes the security and secrecy challenges, together with the necessities, the danger involved and proposed secured blockchain-based framework which is capable of future research scope in Industry 5.0. The study has described an Eye Hospital case study that stores the eye donors’ details. With such critical scenario, this study addresses healthcare scenario with poverty-led agenda and social developmental features.

Details

Inclusive Developments Through Socio-economic Indicators: New Theoretical and Empirical Insights
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-554-5

Keywords

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