{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,19]],"date-time":"2026-02-19T15:05:57Z","timestamp":1771513557118,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,9]],"date-time":"2025-01-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736380800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"NIHR North-West London Patient Safety Research Collaboration","award":["NIHR204292"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NIHR204292"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Virtual consultations are being increasingly incorporated into routine primary care, as they offer better time and geographical flexibility for patients while also being cost-effective for both patients and service providers. At the same time, concerns have been raised about the extent to which virtual care is safe for patients. As of now, there is no validated methodology for evaluating the safety nuances and implications of virtual care. This study aims to identify patient safety indicators that could be used to evaluate the safety of virtual consultations in primary care.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A literature search will be performed in Ovid MEDLINE\/PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library for relevant articles published over the last 10 years (2014\u20132024). The systematic review will include randomized and non-randomized controlled trials and observational studies with adult populations that compare synchronous patient-provider virtual consultations (telephone or video) or multicomponent interventions involving synchronous remote consultations with face-to-face consultations. The outcome of interest will be patient safety indicators extracted from the studies. The quality of randomized controlled trials will be assessed with the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool, and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale will be used to analyze risk of bias in observational studies.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Considering the growing adoption of virtual medical care worldwide, a robust and comprehensive evaluation of its safety and quality is now a system-wide priority. Therefore, one of the primary strengths of this proposed systematic review is its focus on a topic of great importance and timeliness, specifically addressing the existing knowledge gap in this area. By publishing this protocol, we demonstrate the transparency and reliability of our research strategy and aim to minimize the risk of selection bias. Potential limitations include the heterogeneity of measures and outcomes, as well as a lower-than-expected number of studies in subgroup analyses, which may negatively influence the statistical significance in data synthesis.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Trial registration<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p><jats:bold>PROSPERO registration number:<\/jats:bold> <jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" ext-link-type=\"uri\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.crd.york.ac.uk\/prospero\/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023464878\" xlink:type=\"simple\">CRD42023464878<\/jats:ext-link>.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0313639","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,9]],"date-time":"2025-01-09T18:30:11Z","timestamp":1736447411000},"page":"e0313639","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Patient safety indicators for virtual consultations in primary care: A systematic review protocol"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0346-2326","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Tetiana","family":"Lunova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1683-2189","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ulrik Bak","family":"Kirk","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9779-2486","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Geva","family":"Greenfield","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Andr\u00e9e","family":"Rochfort","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Ara","family":"Darzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Ana Luisa","family":"Neves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0313639.ref001","volume-title":"Patient Safety","author":"NHS England","year":"2024"},{"key":"pone.0313639.ref002","volume-title":"The NHS Patient Safety Strategy","author":"NHS England","year":"2024"},{"key":"pone.0313639.ref003","author":"NHS England","year":"2021","journal-title":"Digital Clinical Safety Strategy: NHS"},{"key":"pone.0313639.ref004","volume-title":"Patient Safety Indicators Overview","author":"Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality","year":"2023"},{"key":"pone.0313639.ref005","volume-title":"Guide to patient safety indicators","author":"AHRQ Quality Indicators","year":"2003"},{"key":"pone.0313639.ref006","article-title":"Applying patient safety indicators (PSIs) across health care systems: achieving data comparability","author":"PE Rivard","year":"2005","journal-title":"Advances in patient safety: from research to implementation (Volume 2: Concepts and Methodology)"},{"key":"pone.0313639.ref007","article-title":"Establishing a set of patient safety indicators","author":"S Kristensen","year":"2007","journal-title":"Safety Improvement for Patients in Europe"},{"issue":"sup1","key":"pone.0313639.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.3109\/13814788.2015.1043730","article-title":"Quality indicators for patient safety in primary care. 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