Community Physicians’ Attitudes Toward Electronic Follow-up After an Emergency Department Visit

Abstract

Over 1-month, a survey was faxed to family primary care practitioners (PCPs) in the Greater Toronto area who referred patients to the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto) emergency department (ED). Information about demographics, Internet access, and whether PCPs were interested in receiving e-mailed information about their patients. Of the 323 PCPs, 24% were excluded because they could not receive a fax or they had an office outside the hospital’s area code. One hundred fifty (61%) completed the survey—48% were family-physicians and 52% were pediatricians. Ninety-seven percent had Internet access and 9% had no personal e-mail. In total, 61% were interested in receiving electronic communication about their patients visiting the ED. Pediatricians were much more interested in the information compared to family physicians (p<0.0005). Having an e-mail account at home and at work, Internet access in the office, and reading e-mail once a day (or more) were the strongest indicators of being interested in receiving information. The main reason for disinterest however, was not enough time to read the e-mails (46% of non-interested PCPs).