Understanding the use of email consultation in primary care using a retrospective observational study with data of Dutch electronic health records.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:It is unclear why the use of email consultation is not more widespread in Dutch general practice, particularly because, since 2006, its costs can be reimbursed. To encourage further implementation, it is needed to understand the current use of email consultations. This study aims to understand the use of email consultation by different patient groups, compared with other general practice (GP) consultations. SETTING:For this retrospective observational study, we used Dutch routine electronic health record data obtained from NIVEL Primary Care Database for the years 2010 and 2014. PARTICIPANTS:200 general practices were included in 2010 (734 122 registered patients) and 434 in 2014 (1 630 386 registered patients). PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES:The number and percentage of email consult

SUBMITTER: Huygens MWJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5781222 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature