Table 1.

Summary of the antecedents of health care professional–patient online interactions from the perspectives of patients and health care professionals.

Perspectives and antecedents		Description	Number of studies
Patients
	Accessibility to health care professionals	Availability for patients to access to health care professionals remotely at any time; support for anonymous access	5
	Self-management	Primary evaluation of a medical problem before an offline appointment; preparing for future consultations in physical settings; a more effective way of health conditions self-management	5
	Unmet needs	Discontent with health care previously received in offline settings; more alternative choices of health care services than offline settings	5
Health care professionals
	Patient education	An effective way to educate patients, especially patients with chronic diseases, about behavioral changes and drug adherence; a well-suited approach to deepen patients’ awareness of a specific health condition	8
	Career needs	An essential way to provide health care services to patients in the digital age	5
	Self-promotion	Broader self-promotion to others to increase reputation and popularity	3