BACKGROUND
The concept of virtual care has not been consistently defined for its use in healthcare. Overall, the definition of virtual care available is in the form of the use of communication technology with the aim of providing health services. Several studies state that the term virtual care is used synonymous with the concepts of telemedicine, telehealth, telenursing, telerehabilitation, telemonitoring so that it should strengthen the concept so that there is no error in the use of variables.
OBJECTIVE
This study clarifies the concept of virtual care
METHODS
Walker and Avant's concept analysis methods were used in this study. Literature searches were also conducted from four databases: PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus, and Google Scholar, to find articles until July 2022
RESULTS
The literature search obtained 14 articles on virtual treatment from different disciplines. Four attributes were developed from the concept analysis, including 1) remote healthcare delivery, interaction between patients and health workers, 2) communication between patients and health workers, 3) communication using audio, visual, and short message-based technology, Asynchronous, 4) aiming to improve access, effectiveness, and efficiency of services. Two types of antecedents were identified in the concept of virtual care related to virtual care needs involving factors such as use cases, payment barriers, regulatory changes, and technology, as well as antecedents from virtual care, namely conventional face-to-face consultations and considering physical or geographical constraints. Additionally, it was found to be in the form of increased service effectiveness, service efficiency, and cost reduction.
CONCLUSIONS
Concept analysis provides four comprehensive attributes, antecedents and consequence.