[Fwd: Survey: Patients Eager to Exchange E-Mail With Physicians, But Physicians Still Wary]

Bob Pyke Jr wrote:

> Interesting article.
> Bob
> Survey: Patients Eager to Exchange E-Mail With
> Physicians, But
> Physicians Still Wary
>
> A study published in Pediatrics, the journal of the
> American Academy of
> Pediatrics, illustrates a contrasting situation in
> which parents of patients are
> willing to adopt e-mail communication with their
> physicians, but many
> physicians are still reluctant to use the method.
>
> The study, gathered by researchers at Eastern Virginia
> Medical School,
> polled 309 parents and 37 general and specialty
> pediatricians at
> pediatricians' offices. Nearly three out of four of
> the parents reported an
> interest in communicating directly with their
> children's pediatricians through
> e-mail, and a greater number -- 80% -- indicated
> interest in using e-mail for
> other physician services such as scheduling
> appointments, requesting
> prescription refills and getting test results.
>
> But the physicians weren't as thrilled with the
> prospect of using e-mail to
> communicate with patients. About 79% said they were
> unwilling to
> communicate directly with patients via e-mail, and 80%
> said that such
> communication would either "increase" or "greatly
> increase" their workload.
> More than half of the pediatricians -- 54% -- said
> they'd be willing to allow
> their staff to e-mail patients. However, of that
> group, 70% said e-mail
> would be suitable for scheduling appointments, but
> only 20% said e-mail
> would be appropriate for delivering test results.
>
> And the time e-mail communication requires wasn't the
> only concern on
> physicians' minds. On a scale of 0 to 100, with zero
> indicating no
> confidence and 100 indicating complete confidence,
> physicians on average
> rated e-mail communication's security between 25 and
> 30, while the parents
> on average rated it at 50.
>
> Visit http://www.aap.org, http://www.pediatrics.org or
>
> http://www.evms.edu for more information.