Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

The Value and Values of General Practice in the Age of Digitalisation and AI

Digitalization is increasingly transforming how care is organized and delivered in general practice. Technologies such as electronic records, diagnostic tools, digital consultations and digital access routes have become part of everyday routines, while artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as the next phase in this digital evolution. The introduction of these technologies is often accompanied by narratives emphasizing their potential to enhance efficiency, accuracy, patient empowerment, and the overall quality of healthcare. For instance, digital consultations are expected to improve accessibility, diagnostic tools to support more informed clinical decisions, and AI solutions to ease administrative burdens - whether through note-taking assistants or automated responses to patient inquiries in e-consultations - thereby freeing up valuable time for direct patient care. Yet, digital technologies are seldom straightforward solutions to existing healthcare challenges. Their integration into general practice inevitably reshapes professional knowledge, roles, relationships, expectations, and the core values and practices of primary healthcare.

General practice and primary care are under mounting pressure from rising patient demand, workload challenges, workforce shortages, and increasing administrative and technological complexity. Digitalization and AI are frequently promoted as ways to alleviate these pressures, yet their broader implications extend far beyond the expected benefits. Of particular importance is how these digital technologies reshape the organization of everyday workflows and routines in practice, influence patients’ experiences, expectations and perceptions of care quality, and affect existing health inequities. Other critical questions include how they affect diagnostic quality, professional expertise, and ethical and human aspects of care, e.g., the provider-patient relationship and the continuity of care. Understanding these dimensions is essential for evaluating what digitalization and AI mean for the long-term sustainability and values of primary care.

This Article Collection aims to focus on how digitalization and AI - and the new socio-technical relationships that emerge from their integration - affect the core values of general practice, as well as the role of general practice both as perceived by the patients and as experienced by the GPs. Contributions to this Article Collection may explore the role and impact of digitalization and AI in general practice from multiple perspectives.

Potential subtopics include:

• Impact of digital consultations
• Digital access systems (digital triage) and AI solutions on person-centred care and relational continuity
• Organizational implications of implementation (or de-implementation) of digital technologies
• Benefits and risks of AI-assisted tools for, e.g., note-taking, referrals and decision making
• Consequences of AI-based tools for professional expertise and responsibility

Studies focusing on the patients’ perspectives are encouraged. Suitable study types might include empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods), implementation, evaluation and feasibility studies, clinical trials, conceptual analyses and perspectives.

Guest Advisors

Dr. Torunn Bjerve Eide is an associate professor at the Department of General Practice at the University of Oslo, as well as a GP specialist working in central Oslo. Her fields of interest include general practice health services research and quality improvement in primary care. She has experience with both quantitative and qualitative research methods and draws on many years of clinical practice to inform her research.

Dr. Elisabeth Assing Hvidt is an associate professor at the Research Unit of General Practice, Department of Public Health at the University of Southern Denmark. Her research focuses on digital health and relationship-centred care, including the implications of digital technologies and AI for quality of care, empathy and the doctor-patient relationship. She is leading the research group "Relationships in General Practice” at the University of Southern Denmark and has led a national evaluation study on video consultations in general practice in Denmark (the vCare-project). She was awarded “Paper of the Year” in 2022 (Scandinavian Journal of Primary Healthcare) for the article: “Not just an information-delivery tool. An ethnographic study exploring Danish GPs’ perspectives on and experiences with the relational potential of email consultation.”

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisors for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member). All Guest Advisors declare no Conflict of Interests.

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is July 13th 2026.

Please contact Francis Straw at [email protected] with any queries or for information regarding APC discounts in this Article Collection.

Please be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system. Failure to select the appropriate Article Collection can result in delays.