Chapter 3 Professional Communication With Technology
Chapter 3 Professional Communication With Technology
Vocabulary
Electronic health record (EHR): A computerized software system that maintains patient health information, which can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized healthcare professionals and providers from more than one healthcare organization.
Patient portal: A secure online website designed for patients to access their health information and to communicate with their provider.
Protected health information (PHI): Includes a patient’s identifiable demographic information, physical and/or mental health information and conditions, and related payment information. Under HIPAA, the security, privacy, and confidentiality of PHI must be safeguarded.
Communicating Through Professional Emails
The use of electronic communication has increased over the last years in ambulatory care. Healthcare providers and staff not only communicate among themselves and their agency, but also with their patients. With the use of patient portals, patients can send email messages to their provider. Many times the provider has the medical assistant send a response to the patients. Knowing how to send business emails is an essential skill for healthcare professionals.
Email Confidentiality and Security
Patients commonly communicate via email using the patient portal software. Responding to patients’ emails is usually done by the medical assistant based on feedback from the provider. A copy of the communication from and to the patient must be included in the electronic health record (EHR). This communication is confidential. The healthcare professional must follow the state and federal laws that address patient confidentiality.
Email communication with patients must also be secure. Healthcare agencies must use software that encrypts email communication, making the data nonreadable. This prevents unauthorized users from accessing the communication.
Email Etiquette
Email etiquette involves the social guidelines that govern interactions that occur when emailing people. Healthcare agencies may have additional policies and procedures when staff interact with patients through emails. All emails should be addressed and responded to in a timely manner. By following email etiquette and the agency’s policies, the healthcare professional can provide customer-friendly communication with patients.
Addressing an Email
When addressing an email, the user should do the following:
- Use a semicolon (;) between email addresses, when sending an email to multiple people.
- Use the Cc line if a copy of the email needs to be sent to another person. Make sure the person cc’d has a right to see the email contents and the patient’s confidentiality will not be breached.
- Use the Bcc line if a copy of the email needs to be sent to another person without the knowledge of the people listed in the To and Cc fields. Use the Bcc field sparingly.
- Ensure the email address(es) used are correct to avoid sending the email to an incorrect person.