P01-44-The e-mail as a potential therapeutic tool in patients with alcohol dependence: The patient's perspective

Introduction The use of Internet-based communication tools has spread to multiple areas of life. E-mail is a fast and easy tool that can be used by the health care system to facilitate doctor-patient communication. Objectives To assess the use and value of the e-mail for communication between physician and patient, from patients’ perspective. Aims To evaluate the use of e-mail as a potential therapeutic tool in patients with alcohol dependence. Methods The sample included patients who reported to have an e-mail account at their first visit in Alcohol Unit (n = 44 of 238 patients seen during one year). 23 patients were given the contact e-mail of the Alcohol Unit, and were instructed to contact their physician, if needed, by e-mail. The rest of the sample (n = 21) could contact their physician only by phone. Six months later, the whole sample received an electronic survey measuring their satisfaction of the communication with the physician. Results 57% patients who received the contact e-mail of the Alcohol Unit answered the survey (n = 13). Of those, 54% used e-mail to contact their physician. 71% found e-mail easy-to-use; 86% reported being satisfied with e-mail communication. Conclusions E-mail contact with physician was considered useful by most patients, although they report using also other contact methods, such as phone call.