title: Physicians' use of and attitudes toward electronic mail for patient communication.
abstract: To assess physicians' use of and attitudes toward electronic mail (e-mail) for patient communication, we conducted a mail-in survey of physicians who see patients in outpatient clinics affiliated with a large academic medical center (N = 283). Seventy-two percent of physicians reported using e-mail to communicate with patients, averaging 7.7 e-mails from patients per month. The lowest level of use was by community-based primary care physicians (odds ratio, 0.22; 95% confidence interval, 0.08 to 0.59). Those physicians who reported using e-mail with patients reported high satisfaction with its use. Although physicians were concerned about the confidentiality of e-mail, few discussed this issue with patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA. barakg@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Barak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gaster
authors.forename: Christopher L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Knight
authors.forename: Dawn E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: DeWitt
authors.forename: John V L
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Sheffield
authors.forename: Nassim P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Assefi
authors.forename: Dedra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Buchwald
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003142:Communication; D003219:Confidentiality; D034742:Electronic Mail / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011364:Professional Practice; D011996:Records