Patients, Physicians, and E-mail

Clinical e-mail in an academic dermatology setting

“…[16][17][18][19] Our study found no e-mail that required urgent attention. Nevertheless, before being offered physicians' e-mail addresses, patients should be made aware of what defines appropriate content and what can be expected for a reply time.…”

Towards ethical guidelines for dealing with unsolicited patient emails and giving teleadvice in the absence of a pre-existing patient-physician relationship — systematic review and expert survey

“…In letter to the editor of the Archives of Dermatology a physician wrote in response to our call to establish guidelines [2]: "The appropriate resolution for the majority of unsolicited mail is the same as for unsolicited email: the wastebasket/delete button. Do not offer advice to someone you personally have not seen physically, touched and examined in real time" [24]. …”

“…However, we think that physicians have an ethical obligation not only to do no harm, but - if possible - to do good and to protect the patient, as has been pointed out in the following letter reply [25]:…”

“…The ethical duty to help may also be resolved by forwarding the email to an institution who is prepared to handle such requests (a "clearance center" for unsolicited emails has been proposed [21,25]). It is however essential that - if the email request is forwarded to a third party - the sender must give his or her consent.…”

History and Trends in Clinical Information Systems in the United States

“…Patients can now send electronic mail (e-mail) to providers to request simple actions such as prescription refills. The prevalence of e-mail is such that authors are now advising clinicians about coping with e-mail from patients (Lewis, 2000). In the future, patients will likely demand more of these relatively effortless and low-cost communications with clinicians.…”