Leong Shou Ling, Gingrich Dennis, Lewis Peter R, Mauger David T, George John H
Departments of Family and Community Medicine, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA.
J Am Board Fam Pract. 2005 May-Jun;18(3):180-8. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.18.3.180.
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?
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.
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."
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.
医患关系受到多种因素的侵蚀。电子邮件能否加强沟通并消除我们医疗实践中固有的一些障碍？
在我们的研究人群中，4名医生向参与的患者提供电子邮件沟通服务，4名医生则不提供。患者和医生都完成了关于沟通的满意度、感知质量、便利性和及时性的问卷调查。
与对照组相比，电子邮件组在便利性（P <.0001）和与医生联系所花费的时间（P <.0001）方面，患者满意度显著提高。电子邮件组医生在便利性、处理信息所花费的时间和信息数量方面的满意度有所提高。电子邮件的回复时间更长。当被问及患者是否应该能够给医生发电子邮件时，电子邮件组的大多数患者以及非电子邮件组除2名医生外的所有医生都回答“是”。
发现电子邮件沟通是一种更方便的沟通形式。电子邮件组的患者和医生满意度都有所提高。电子邮件组医生处理的信息数量和回复信息所花费的时间没有增加。由于沟通改善，电子邮件有潜力改善医患关系。
