Patient-Physician Emails

[Patty Davies]

Hello - Here is a forwarded message from someone on the Linguist List,
asking about communication between doctors & patients.  I let him know that
I was forwarding his question to the Gala list in case anyone can help
him.  Regards,

Patty Davies

Date: Wed, 04 May 2005 11:30:24
From: David McGeady < dave.mcgeady at gmail.com >
Subject: Patient-Physician Emails

	

Hi,

Currently I am writing my master's thesis on the impact of patient physcian
emailing on clinical efficiency and effectivness.

This has been examined from a medical perspective by looking at clinical
outcomes. It has also been examined from an operations point of view by
timing physicians as they respond to emails. Nevertheless, what has so far
been neglected is an examination of the quality of these communications in
comparison to telephone calls and face-to-face visits.

Am not a linguist myself, but would be really interested in finding out if
anything like this has been done yet?

Key Questions:

How does email compare with the telephone?

Can patients articulate their condition adequately?

How many emails would it take to convey the same amount of information as a
telephone call?

It really is a fascinating area, and if someone isn't writing about it yet,
they certainly should! Many thanks for your help,

Dave

--
David McGeady B.A. B.A.I.
HEMA Research Group
Helsinki University of Technology
Finland
dy