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AAP Grand Rounds 14:34 (2005) E-mail and Parent/Physician CommunicationSource: Anand SG, Feldman MJ, Geller DS, et al. A content analysis of e-mail communication between primary care providers and parents. Pediatrics. 2005;115:12831288.
E-mail exchanges between providers and patients have been cited by the Institute of Medicine as an important part of meeting patients communication needs.1 While e-mail exchange between physicians and their adult patients has been studied,2 the purpose of this descriptive study was to analyze e-mail communication between primary care pediatricians and the parents of their patients. In addition, the authors from Boston University and Harvard surveyed participating parents regarding their attitudes toward e-mail exchange as a means of communication with their physician. Fifty-four of the 55 parents who e-mailed 2 pediatricians during the 6-week study period consented to have their e-mails included in the study. Forty-five of the 54 consenting parents (83%) returned the attitudinal survey. Reasons for e-mailing included medical questions (53%), medical updates (25%), subspecialty follow-up (11%), and administrative requests (11%). All
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