Email as an Encumbrance to Physician-patient Communication.

Physician-patient interaction through email poses several concerns regarding the security, efficiency, and misinterpretation of critical information. Incoming emails received by a single university-based physician in 2013 were analyzed in order to determine whether a general non-patient specific email is appropriate for patient use. Emails received were divided into seven categories: Informational, Academic, Advertisement, Organization/Department/ University, Mission Critical, Personal, and Patient.