Medicine by email could be the future
Doctors should make better use of email to communicate with their patients, according to new research from Imperial College.
The researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, found that using email actually reduced the need for face-to-face consultations, particularly when managing long-term problems such as weight loss or diabetes.
Considerable time savings for both the patient and the doctor were also identified as well as the chance for quicker communication.
The report points out that there is also the knock on advantage for the NHS of saving money through more efficient use of a doctor’s time.
Dr Josip Car from Imperial College, said: “With such a large proportion of the population now with access to email, it seems unusual that this method of communication, so essential for many, is so underused by doctors and patients. This review has shown that there are definite advantages to the increased use of e-mail for patient-doctor consultations.”
Professor Aziz Sheikh, from the University of Edinburgh, however, pointed out that there are some risks in increasing email communication.
He asserted: “Many patients increasingly want to be able to communicate with their doctors by email, but the lack of an adequate supporting infrastructure could be a security issue, and many doctors are still concerned that email consultations will not provide the same level of service for many patients.”
