E-mail correspondence: Is it the write stuff for you?

Commentary. By Eric Anderson, MD, AMNews contributor. Feb. 24, 2003.

COMMENTARY

Observations on the state of medical practice and medical life

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Six months ago when I developed coughing spells that ended in a whoop I hadn't heard since my medical school days in the 1950s (coughing spells that also reminded me I'd had a radical prostatectomy, if you understand me), I received my diagnosis from my doctor by e-mail.

I was 3,000 miles away by then but he followed me daily, gave me lab data including my IgM for B. pertussis, arranged medications with a nearby pharmacy and successfully set up public health communications with family contacts back home.

All from his keyboard.

My doctor was careful to instruct me that in late 2002 e-mail contact was not foolproof and I should acknowledge that in our correspondence.

E-mail may not be foolproof, but what advantages it offers under certain conditions.

True, not all patients are medically sophisticated and computer-savvy, but they're getting that way. Indeed, the lay press loves to lyric over the forthcoming era of consumer-directed health care. And if we don't listen to the Paul Reveres riding among us chanting, "The patients are coming. The patients are coming," we're surely due for some painful surprises.

Consumer-driven medicine in 2003 could change our working day here in the United States just as socialized medicine did to British doctors in 1948 -- it made them search for the 25th hour in every day. There is no end to patient demand when patients are in the saddle and we are in the trenches.