Electronic messaging between primary and secondary care: a four-year case report.
OBJECTIVE
To observe how electronic messaging between a hospital consultant and general practitioners (GPs) in 15 practices about patients suffering from diabetes evolved over a 3-year period after an initial 1-year study.


METHODS
Case report. Electronic messages between a hospital consultant and GPs were counted. The authors determined whether a message sent by the consultant was integrated into the receiving GP's electronic medical record system. After the observation period, the GPs answered a questionnaire.


METHODS
The number of electronic messages and the percentage of messages integrated into the electronic medical record.


RESULTS
The volume of messages was maintained during the 3 years after the original study. In the original study, the percentage of the messages integrated by the GPs increased during the year. After that study, however, seven GPs stopped integrating data from messages. The extent to which received messages were integrated varied widely among practices.


CONCLUSIONS
The authors conclude that extrapolation of the results of the original study would have led to incorrect conclusions. Although the volume of messages remained stable after the original study, GPs changed their method of handling messages. Initially, all GPs used the opportunity to copy data from the messages into their own records. At the end of the observation period (that is, the 3 years after completion of the original study), more than 50 percent of GPs had ceased copying data from the messages into their own records. The majority of GPs, however, wanted to expand the use of electronic messaging.
Moorman
P W
PW
Department of Medical Informatics, Medical Faculty, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. moorman@mi.fgg.eur.nl
Branger
P J
PJ
van der Kam
W J
WJ
van der Lei
J
J
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003142:Communication; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D003253:Consultants; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D010821:Physicians, Family; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires