Newswise — The research on the impact of shared medical appointments (SMAs) was carried out by a team of scholars from various institutions. Nazlı Sönmez from ESMT Berlin, Kavitha Srinivasan, and Rengaraj Venkatesh from Aravind Eye Hospital in India, Ryan W. Buell from Harvard Business School, and Kamalini Ramdas from London Business School collaborated on this study.
Their primary objective was to investigate how shared medical appointments influence the patient experience, which includes knowledge gained and overall satisfaction. Additionally, they sought to examine how SMAs affect patient behavior, particularly in terms of follow-up rates and medication compliance rates.
In a shared medical appointment setting, patients sharing the same medical condition gather together to meet with the physician as a group. During the appointment, each patient receives individual attention in a sequential manner. The physician provides personalized information tailored to the specific needs of each patient, while also sharing standardized information relevant to all patients with the same medical condition.
SMAs have been widely considered a promising solution to address global healthcare demand, particularly in countries where healthcare systems are under significant strain. However, the slow uptake of SMAs in the healthcare sector can be attributed to patient concerns regarding the potential loss of privacy, which might hinder open discussions about sensitive medical issues and consequently affect learning, satisfaction, and engagement. Nevertheless, recent research findings indicate that SMAs have substantial benefits, including improved patient satisfaction, knowledge acquisition, and medication compliance, without compromising patient follow-up rates or measured clinical outcomes.
To conduct this study, researchers implemented a large-scale randomized controlled trial at the Aravind Eye Hospital in India. India, with nearly one-fifth of the world's population, only allocates 1.1 percent of its GDP to healthcare and is grappling with a severe shortage of healthcare capacity. The trial involved one thousand patients diagnosed with primary glaucoma, randomly assigned to either traditional one-on-one appointments or SMAs consisting of five patients attending four successive routine follow-up visits scheduled four months apart.
After each appointment, patients participated in surveys to evaluate their satisfaction with the appointment, their knowledge regarding glaucoma, and their intention to schedule a follow-up appointment. Additionally, the researchers tracked the patients' medication compliance rates throughout the study.
According to Sönmez, the global demand for healthcare is escalating and surpassing available resources. This situation is particularly critical in underdeveloped countries, where the patient-to-doctor ratio is alarming, creating significant barriers to healthcare access. To address this challenge, innovative solutions like shared medical appointments must be embraced. Failing to do so could deprive a vast number of people of their fundamental human right to healthcare.
The researchers suggest that SMAs have the potential to enhance access to public healthcare, reduce costs for private care, and notably improve medical outcomes for various conditions, especially Type 2 diabetes, in both primary and secondary care settings. By creatively incorporating SMAs, more patients can receive timely access to healthcare, ultimately facilitating better healthcare for all.
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