National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA.
Patient Educ Couns. 2010 Aug;80(2):266-73. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2009.09.038. Epub 2009 Nov 13.
To review systematically the role of e-mails in patient-provider communication in terms of e-mail content, and perspectives of providers and patients on e-mail communication in health care.
A systematic review of studies on e-mail communication between patients and health providers in regular health care published from 2000 to 2008.
A total of 24 studies were included in the review. Among these studies, 21 studies examined e-mail communication between patients and providers, and three studies examined the e-mail communication between parents of patients in pediatric primary care and pediatricians. In the content analyses of e-mail messages, topics well represented were medical information exchange, medical condition or update, medication information, and subspecialty evaluation. A number of personal and institutional features were associated with the likelihood of e-mail use between patients and providers. While benefits of e-mails in enhancing communication were recognized by both patients and providers, concerns about confidentiality and security were also expressed.
The e-mail is transforming the relationship between patients and providers. The rigorous exploration of pros and cons of electronic interaction in health care settings will help make e-mail communication a more powerful, mutually beneficial health care provision tool.
It is important to develop an electronic communication system for the clinical practice that can address a range of concerns. More efforts need to be made to educate patients and providers to appropriately and effectively use e-mail for communication.
从电子邮件的内容以及医患双方对医疗保健中电子邮件沟通的看法两个方面，系统地回顾电子邮件在医患沟通中的作用。
对 2000 年至 2008 年期间发表的关于常规医疗保健中患者与医疗服务提供者之间电子邮件沟通的研究进行系统评价。
共有 24 项研究纳入综述。在这些研究中，21 项研究考察了患者与提供者之间的电子邮件沟通，3 项研究考察了儿科初级保健中患者家长与儿科医生之间的电子邮件沟通。在电子邮件信息的内容分析中，医学信息交流、病情或更新、药物信息和专科评估等主题得到了很好的体现。许多个人和机构特征与患者和提供者之间使用电子邮件的可能性相关。尽管患者和提供者都认识到电子邮件在增强沟通方面的益处，但也对保密性和安全性表示担忧。
电子邮件正在改变医患关系。对电子互动在医疗保健环境中的利弊进行严格的探索，将有助于使电子邮件沟通成为一种更强大、互利的医疗服务提供工具。
为临床实践开发一个可以解决各种问题的电子通信系统非常重要。需要进一步努力，对患者和医务人员进行教育，使他们能够适当和有效地利用电子邮件进行沟通。
