Keywords: Digitalization, Telehealth, General Practice, Primary Care, eHealth, Family medicine, Artificial Intelligence, Systematic Review
Introduction:
Over the last decade, digital transformation in healthcare has significantly impacted general practice across Europe. This review aims to analyze the influence and evolution of digitalization in general practice from the perspective of general practitioners (GPs) and identify key aspects shaping the future of primary care.
Method:
We conducted a systematic literature review on general practitioners’ perception of digitalization in general medicine, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) across eight databases (PubMed, Scopus, Springer Link, Wiley, Cochrane, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Ovid), and using the search string: "digital, digitalization, eHealth, AI, primary care, general practice". As a basis for this review, all original studies focusing on the impact of digitalization on European general practice from the perspective of general practitioners, which were written in German or English, and conducted between 2014, and 2024, were selected for screening. 1,580 references were identified. After duplicate removal, 1,327 references were title-screened. A total of 398 references were further screened by abstract. Of these, 119 references were selected for full-text review. Based on various relevance criteria, 65 references were included. Further manual data extraction supported by the AI tool Elicit was conducted for an in-depth qualitative analysis and meta-analysis.
Results:
Our preliminary findings indicate that the key areas of digitalization impacting general practice include: the adoption of electronic health records, telemedicine, AI-driven decision support tools, and patient self-management platforms. GPs highlighted challenges such as digital literacy, data privacy concerns, and the integration of digital tools into their clinical workflows.
Conclusions:
Digitalization has brought transformative changes to general practice, offering both opportunities and challenges. This review underscores the most impactful aspects of digitalization and their implications for the future development of general practice. Understanding these trends is crucial for aligning digital innovations with the needs of GPs and patients in primary care.
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