Abstract

Background: Internet technology is affecting many industries, including health care, and physicians are increasingly using e-mail as a part of their workday.
Objective: To determine the attitudes towards e-mail consultation among general practitioners and family physician in primary healthcare (PHC), Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia who reported practice of e-mail consultations in general practice and to identify the factors or barrier influencing e-mail communication in different sector of primary health care in Jeddah.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during April 2014 to April 2015. All general practi- tioners and family physicians of both gender and different nationality working at PHC centers, Jeddah city throughout the study period were included. Different attitudes of PHC physicians towards e-mail consultation with their patients were assessed through a self-administered questionnaire. Result: The total number of selected physicians for the study was 150, about 127 of them responded to the study with respondent rate of 84%. Most of the respondents in this study were females (66.1%) versus males (33.9%). General prac- titioners (GP) were 27.6% and 24.4% were consultants. Most of the physicians (62%) were not currently using computers at work site and only 38% exclusively use computers in the practice. Only 25% had internet access and 45% had intranet. Physicians’ attitude toward e-mailing patients was generally positive. About 47 of respondents use e-mail to communicate with other GPs within the practice, 55% with GPs outside the work place and 15% with administrative staff. In this study, usage of e-mail with international organization was highest (60%). About 31.5% of respondent physicians received e-mails from their patients. Seventy percent of received e-mails were about medical consultation, 11% for repeated prescription, 11% for making an appointment, 32% for general medical consultation, and 46% for information about medical condition. Risk of confidentiality with e-mail did not emphasis worries in 18% of physicians. The majority of physicians expressed the view that there was sufficient time to respond to most of the patients through e-mail 52 (43.7%). Moreover, about 17% of respondent considered e-mail use in clinical practice is an additional burden in an already onerous job. Conclusion: The general attitude of physicians towards computer and internet use in work place was positive although the usage of e-mail in medical consultations of patients was very limited.