From
Medical
Practice Communicator
Guidelines For Doctor-Patient E-Mail[Medical
Practice Communicator 7(2):12, 2000. © 2000 HMI Inc.]
The American Medical Informatics Association recently published
guidelines for physician-patient e-mail in the context of an established
relationship. Guidelines for using e-mail in a clinical setting address
two interrelated aspects: effective interaction between the clinician and
patient and observing medicolegal prudence.
Summary of Communication Guidelines
- Discuss explicitly the use of e-mail
- Establish turn-around time expectations for messages
- Inform patients about each person who may see the messages
- Discuss policies for managing messages at off-hour and vacation
times
- Use an auto-reply feature and encourage patients to do the same
- Tell patients to avoid e-mail for urgent matters, and explain why
- Establish the types of transactions for which e-mail may be used
(for example, scheduling appointments and refilling prescriptions)
- Remind patients to identify themselves explicitly in the body of the
message
- Print all messages and include them in the patient's
chart
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