In the clinical setting, physicians use email to consult with colleagues, obtain laboratory data, follow up with staff about patient care issues, and learn about new research findings.

Almost all physicians use email as do 94.7% of Canadians with a university degree. Therefore, our main objective was to explore the viewpoint of family physicians on advantages and disadvantages of educational email alerts.īy 2009, 80.3% of Canadians were using the Internet on a regular basis the main reason for Internet usage was email, with 93.0% of Canadians using it for email. We found studies on the use of information derived from educational emails by physicians, but no studies on the advantages or disadvantages of email for the delivery of educational material. Understanding physicians’ knowledge, attitude, and behavior regarding email alerts can help to address obstacles associated with email as an educational channel. In addition, physicians complain about “email fatigue”, that is, too many emails and lack of time. Other issues are changes of email address or service provider. Privacy and security of email communication remain of major concern.

However, physicians face email-related obstacles such as technical difficulties. Highlights have been delivered to members of the College of Family Physicians of Canada since 2010 and to CPhA members since 2012. They consist of key updated paragraphs from a Web-based text called e-Therapeutics+, published by the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA).

They are based on a synthesis of research results and systematic reviews, and graded using the Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy System. Second, Highlights are treatment recommendations tailored for a primary care audience. POEMs are synopses of original research and systematic reviews, selected after scanning and critically appraising new articles from more than 100 journals. First, Daily-POEMs are tailored for family physicians. These alerts support continuing education programs that involve more than 10,000 Canadian physicians and pharmacists.

Two examples of educational email alerts are “Daily-POEMs” (Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters) and “Highlights from e-Therapeutics+”. They can be used for two-way knowledge translation, a process that involves sending evidence-based clinical recommendations to physicians and then receiving their constructive feedback. Email alerts have been associated with learning, practice change, and expected benefits for patient health, among other outcomes. Educational email alerts have the potential to improve the quality of health care services, but present some disadvantages.

Advantages and disadvantages of email