Guidelines for email exchange between doctor and patient
| Adapted from the American Medical Informatics Association.40 |
| Joint responsibilities |
| • Establish what the purpose(s) of email exchanges will be |
| • Establish the turnaround time expected of both doctor and patient (possibly depending on context) |
| • Avoid anger, sarcasm, criticism, and libellous references to third parties |
| • Use encryption to protect the privacy of email content |
| The doctor's responsibilities |
| • Ensure the patient is aware of security and confidentiality issues |
| • Obtain the patient's informed consent for the use of email, specifying your terms |
| • Protect access to your email inbox and your screensaver with passwords |
| • Do not distribute a patient's email to third parties, unless they have agreed to it |
| • Use an electronic signature and a header to warn about privacy issues |
| • Set up an automatic reply to confirm receipt of patient's email |
| • File printouts of all email correspondence in the medical record |
| • Back up your email folders weekly |
| • Maintain an address book of patients who can be (anonymously) mass mailed in the event of technical problems |
| The patient's responsibilities |
| • Categorise the email in its subject heading |
| • Use identifying information (such as a hospital number) in the body of the email |
| • Use an electronic signature |
| • Acknowledge receipt of doctor's reply |