This bachelor's thesis addresses the field of healthcare digitalisation in Slovenia, with a primary focus on analysing the national eAppointment system and patients' user experiences. The central issue revolves around the perceived discrepancies between displayed and actual waiting times, as well as the challenges of digital inclusion. The work aims to comprehensively evaluate user-friendliness, identify obstacles, and propose improvements to optimize the eAppointment system. The research is based on a mixed-methods approach. The theoretical part encompasses a descriptive method and an analysis of scientific and professional literature. The empirical part combines a quantitative analysis of data from an online survey of service users with a qualitative analysis of two semi-structured interviews with eHealth experts at the National Institute of Public Health.
The findings reveal that users perceive the eAppointment interface as clear and simple when completing the process by entering their eReferral number and ZZZS number. However, the main practical issue is the gap between displayed and actual waiting times in clinics, which stems from the fragmentation of local information systems, methodological differences, and the phenomenon of fictitious patient waiting lists resulting from self-paid examinations. The findings of the research offer useful starting points and professional guidelines fot the further improvement of the system's operation within the public healthcare environment. They provide decision-makers with a foundation for simplifying digital pathways, continuously improving real-time data accuracy within the system, and highlighting the necessity of integrating private healthcare providers' data into the Central Registry of Patient Data. This contributes to narrowing the digital divide, enhancing transparency, and strengthening public trust in eHealth services.
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