E-mails in a Psychiatric Practice: Why Patients Send Them and How Psychiatrists Respond
| Autor: | Richard J Moldawsky, Pranav V Shah |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Referral Adolescent education Decision Making Alternative medicine Context (language use) Electronic mail Patient care California Young Adult medicine Humans Medical diagnosis Young adult Aged Retrospective Studies Psychiatry Physician-Patient Relations Electronic Mail business.industry Retrospective cohort study General Medicine Middle Aged Original Research & Contributions 3. Good health Family medicine Female business |
| Zdroj: | The Permanente journal. 20(1) |
| ISSN: | 1552-5775 |
| Popis: | CONTEXT Little is known about what prompts patients to use e-mail with their physicians and how physicians respond to these e-mails. OBJECTIVE To identify the main reasons why patients e-mail and to learn how psychiatrists manage these e-mails as part of these patients' overall care. DESIGN One hundred patient-initiated e-mails to each of two psychiatrists in a group practice were studied retrospectively for primary reason for the e-mail and for psychiatrists' handling of each e-mail. Other data were collected to assess how representative the e-mailing patients were of the psychiatrists' patient panels. RESULTS Age, sex, and diagnoses of the e-mailers were similar to our overall panels. The most common reasons for e-mailing were refill requests (19.5%), questions about prescribed medication (16.5%), and worsening of symptoms (11.5%). The modal e-mail was a patient with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder requesting a refill. The psychiatrists' most common responses were authorizing a refill (25%), reassurance (22%), and making or moving up a scheduled appointment (16%). For all patients who reported a worsening of symptoms, responses, communicated by e-mail or telephone, included a combination of an earlier appointment and/or change in medication or dose and/or referral for psychotherapy. Both psychiatrists found e-mail to be an efficient enhancement of their practice, and it was inferred that this was also a satisfying mechanism for patients. CONCLUSION Physician-patient communication via e-mail is timesaving for both, and the benefits to patient care should reassure physicians who are wary of using e-mail in their practice. Potential risks to patients without face-to-face or telephone contact appear to be minimal. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|