title: Use of electronic mail in a teaching hospital.
abstract: Electronic mail has been in use for almost 20 years at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and is an integral part of the clinical information system. Through a study of usage patterns during a one-week period, we found that 1247 persons sent 7482 messages to 1302 different recipients. Each category of user (attending physician, house officer, nurse, etc.) sent the most e-mail to others of the same user category. Through an electronically administered questionnaire, we found that self-reported usage patterns had a high correlation (r = 0.6) with measured use. Sixty-six percent of respondents used e-mail daily or weekly, and 58% used it for issues of patient care; nearly all users found this useful for communicating about patient care issues. Ninety percent of respondents felt e-mail made their lives easier and 61% felt it had a humanizing influence on their lives. We conclude that the e-mail system is well-utilized by clinical personnel and felt to be useful in both patient care and nonpatient care situations.
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Computing, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
authors.forename: D Z
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Sands
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Safran
authors.forename: W V
authors.initials: WV
authors.lastname: Slack
authors.forename: H L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Bleich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001900:Boston; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D009726:Nurses; D009816:Office Automation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires