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The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice 18:180-188 (2005)
© 2005 American Board of Family Practice

Enhancing Doctor-Patient Communication Using Email: A Pilot Study

Shou Ling Leong, MD, Dennis Gingrich, MD, Peter R. Lewis, MD, David T. Mauger, PhD and John H. George, PhD

Departments of Family and Community Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey
Health Evaluation Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey

Correspondence: Address correspondence to Shou Ling Leong, MD, Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, PO Box 850, Hershey, PA 17033-0850 (e-mail: sleong{at}psu.edu)

Background: The doctor-patient relationship has been eroded by many factors. Would e-mail enhance communication and address some of the barriers inherent to our medical practices?

Methods: Of our study population, 4 physicians offered e-mail communication to participating patients and 4 did not. Both patients and physicians completed questionnaires regarding satisfaction, perceived quality, convenience, and promptness of the communication.

Results: Patient satisfaction significantly increased in the e-mail group compared with the control group in the areas of convenience (P < .0001) and the amount of time spent contacting their physician (P < .0001). Physician satisfaction in the e-mail group increased regarding convenience, amount of time spent on messages, and volume of messages. The response time was longer with e-mail. When asked if patients should be able to e-mail their physicians, most patients in the e-mail group and all but 2 of the physicians in the non–e-mail group responded "yes."

Conclusion: E-mail communication was found to be a more convenient form of communication. Satisfaction by both patients and physicians improved in the e-mail group. The volume of messages and the time spent answering messages for the e-mail group physicians was not increased. E-mail has the potential to improve the doctor-patient relationship as a result of better communication.






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Copyright © 2005 by the American Board of Family Medicine.