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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Health Technology Implementation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1533156
This article is part of the Research Topic Telehealth and Remote Monitoring Solutions: Advancing Accessible and Effective Healthcare Delivery View all 6 articles
A Model for Virtual Clinic Mobile Apps (VCMA)in Iran: Extracting, Developing, and Validity Determination with Delphi
Provisionally accepted- 1 Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
- 2 Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
Virtual healthcare is now accessible via the Internet, mobile applications, social networks, video calls, and various communication platforms. However, many virtual clinic mobile applications (VCMAs) are developed without official oversight from legal regulators. This study aimed to create a model for VCMAs in Iran and was conducted in three phases: 1) extracting functional and non-functional requirements from existing literature and current VCMAs; 2) developing a model for VCMAs; and 3) validating the model using the Delphi technique. The initial model comprised 163 functional requirements and 111 non-functional requirements. Through the validation of these requirements via questionnaires, 160 functional requirements and 111 non-functional requirements were categorized into three axes: 1) demographic data, 2) health records, and 3) user interface, as well as non-functional requirements in five axes: 1) security, 2) compatibility, 3) availability, 4) efficiency, and 5) usability. This research emphasizes the importance of designing and developing virtual clinic applications to ensure effective implementation, focusing on aspects that are important to Iranian patients and healthcare providers. The model is informed by expert opinions, contextual factors, diagnoses, follow-up care, and other relevant considerations. The management of diseases that do not require a physical examination helps reduce costs for both individuals and the healthcare system.
Keywords: remote patient management, Mobile application, Virtual clinic, Telemedicine, mobile health
Received: 23 Nov 2024; Accepted: 24 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Parsaei, Ehteshami and Tahmasebian. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Asghar Ehteshami, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
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