COVID-19 created a great deal of personal, social, and economic anxiety in the USA and across the globe and exposed the inadequacy of traditional medical systems in handling large-scale emergencies. While telemedicine and virtual visits have become popular as a result, they end once a visit is over, hence lacking data persistence and continuity in caring for patients. Using the design science research approach with support from the theory of affordances, this paper proposes the design of a medical system (called wepital) in which patients receive care through their real avatars, enabling hospitals and other medical centers to provide immediate care that can continue for as long as a patient needs it. Real avatars are digital representations of patients that embody their real-time vital signs and health information. We have created a functional prototype to demonstrate how the proposed design can work. To assess the usability of the design, we have used the prototype in an experiment to provide medical advice to patient volunteers. Based on a theory-based conceptual model, we collected survey data after the experiment to identify factors contributing to the success of such a system, as measured by patient satisfaction. We report the factors that significantly contribute to the patients’ satisfaction. As part of the application and policy implications of our work, we propose a nationwide system that could supplement and expand the capacity of medical systems at the national or even global level.

COVID-19 在美国和全球范围内引发了大量的个人、社会和经济焦虑，并暴露了传统医疗系统在处理大规模紧急情况方面的不足。虽然远程医疗和虚拟就诊因此变得流行，但一旦就诊结束，它们就结束了，因此缺乏数据持久性和护理患者的连续性。本文采用设计科学研究方法，在可供性理论的支持下，提出了一种医疗系统（称为wepital）的设计，在该系统中，患者通过他们的真实化身接受护理，使医院和其他医疗中心能够提供可以持续到患者需要的即时护理。真实化身是患者的数字表示，体现了他们的实时生命体征和健康信息。我们创建了一个功能原型来演示所提议的设计如何工作。为了评估设计的可用性，我们在实验中使用原型为患者志愿者提供医疗建议。基于基于理论的概念模型，我们在实验后收集了调查数据，以确定促成此类系统成功的因素，以患者满意度为衡量标准。我们报告了显着有助于患者满意度的因素。作为我们工作的应用和政策影响的一部分，