Investigating Medical Student's Preferences for Internet-Based Healthcare Services: A Best-Worst Scaling Survey

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the importance of providing Internet-based healthcare services based on the preference of a sample of medical students in China.Methods: An online best-worst scaling (BWS) survey with Case 1 design was conducted. Balanced independent block design generated 12 choice task profiles for each participant to answer. Descriptive analysis was used to describe the respondents' characteristics; Multinomial and mixed logit regression methods were used to investigate the importance of Internet-based services based on respondents' preferences.Results: A total of 1,296 students completed the online survey and rated Clinical Service, Decision Aids, and Public health as the three most important services that should be provided through an Internet-based healthcare system. Providing Medical Education via the Internet was chosen as the least important service by the respondents. Subgroup analysis indicated that students studying clinical medicine and non-clinical medicine considered providing Medical Education and Public Health, respectively, as more important services than others.Conclusions: This BWS study demonstrated that providing Clinical Service, Decision Aids, and Public Health through the Internet are the three most important services based on medical students' preferences in China. Further research is needed to investigate how to improve medical students' skills in using internet-based healthcare services in medical education programs.

Automated summary

Based on the preferences of medical students in China, providing Clinical Service, Decision Aids, and Public Health are identified as the top three most important services through an Internet-based healthcare system. Subgroup analysis showed differences in the importance of Medical Education and Public Health among students studying clinical and non-clinical medicine.