Seth Puneet, Abu-Abed Mohamed Ismail, Kapoor Vikram, Nicholson Kathryn, Agarwal Gina
Department of Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Division of Hospital Medicine, Woodstock General Hospital, Woodstock, ON, Canada.
JMIR Med Inform. 2016 Dec 22;4(4):e42. doi: 10.2196/medinform.5853.
Email between patients and their health care providers can serve as a continuous and collaborative forum to improve access to care, enhance convenience of communication, reduce administrative costs and missed appointments, and improve satisfaction with the patient-provider relationship.
The main objective of this study was to investigate the attitudes of patients aged 16 years and older toward receiving email communication for health-related purposes from an academic inner-city family health team in Southern Ontario. In addition to exploring the proportion of patients with a functioning email address and interest in email communication with their health care provider, we also examined patient-level predictors of interest in email communication.
A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered, 1-page survey of attitudes toward electronic communication for health purposes. Participants were recruited from attending patients at the McMaster Family Practice in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. These patients were aged 16 years and older and were approached consecutively to complete the self-administered survey (N=624). Descriptive analyses were conducted using the Pearson chi-square test to examine correlations between variables. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine statistically significant predictors of interest in email communication (yes or no).
The majority of respondents (73.2%, 457/624) reported that they would be willing to have their health care provider (from the McMaster Family Practice) contact them via email to communicate health-related information. Those respondents who checked their personal email more frequently were less likely to want to engage in this electronic communication. Among respondents who check their email less frequently (fewer than every 3 days), 46% (37/81) preferred to communicate with the McMaster Family Practice via email.
Online applications, including email, are emerging as a viable avenue for patient communication. With increasing utility of mobile devices in the general population, the proportion of patients interested in email communication with their health care providers may continue to increase. When following best practices and appropriate guidelines, health care providers can use this resource to enhance patient-provider communication in their clinical work, ultimately leading to improved health outcomes and satisfaction with care among their patients.
患者与其医疗服务提供者之间的电子邮件可作为一个持续协作的平台，以改善医疗服务的可及性、增强沟通便利性、降低行政成本和减少预约失约情况，并提高患者对医患关系的满意度。
本研究的主要目的是调查16岁及以上患者对安大略省南部一家学术性市中心家庭健康团队通过电子邮件进行健康相关沟通的态度。除了探究拥有有效电子邮件地址的患者比例以及对与医疗服务提供者进行电子邮件沟通的兴趣外，我们还研究了患者层面上对电子邮件沟通感兴趣的预测因素。
采用一项针对健康目的电子通信态度的1页式自填调查问卷进行横断面研究。参与者从加拿大安大略省汉密尔顿市麦克马斯特家庭医疗诊所的就诊患者中招募。这些患者年龄在16岁及以上，被依次邀请完成自填调查问卷（N = 624）。使用Pearson卡方检验进行描述性分析，以检查变量之间的相关性。进行逻辑回归分析以确定对电子邮件沟通感兴趣（是或否）的统计学显著预测因素。
大多数受访者（73.2%，457/624）表示愿意让其医疗服务提供者（来自麦克马斯特家庭医疗诊所）通过电子邮件与他们联系，以传达健康相关信息。那些更频繁查看个人电子邮件的受访者不太可能希望参与这种电子通信。在查看电子邮件频率较低（每3天少于一次）的受访者中，46%（37/81）更喜欢通过电子邮件与麦克马斯特家庭医疗诊所沟通。
包括电子邮件在内的在线应用正成为患者沟通的可行途径。随着移动设备在普通人群中的使用日益增加，对与医疗服务提供者进行电子邮件沟通感兴趣的患者比例可能会继续上升。遵循最佳实践和适当指南时，医疗服务提供者可利用这一资源在临床工作中加强医患沟通，最终改善患者的健康状况和对医疗服务的满意度。
