Communicating with your child’s pediatrician just got easier. How? E-mail. According to an article in the September 2006 issue of American Baby it’s perfectly okay to send email to your child’s doctor as long as you keep a few things in mind.
(1) Make sure you clearly identify your child by full name and date of birth.
(2) Keep the email short and use one topic per message. If you have several different questions send a separate email so that the doctor can respond to each concern.
(3) Don’t send urgent questions because the doctor may not respond for a day or longer. Send general questions that you don’t need a quick response to.
(4) Don’t send attachments because some programs will automatically remove them to prevent viruses.
(5) Don’t expect privacy. Your email might be read by the receptionist, nurse, etc. If you have sensitive information that you don’t want others to read about, then it’s best to wait until you can talk to or see the doctor.
Of course before you email your child’s doctor you want to make sure it’s acceptable. Doctor’s already have busy schedules and some may not want the task of reading and responding to dozens of emails daily.
If after finding out that email is acceptable it’s a good idea to also find out the expected turn around time for response from the doctor as well finding out who, if anyone besides the doctor, will read the email. There is also some question of whether the emails between you and your child’s doctor then becomes part of their medical record, so you will want to find out for sure.
Although I like the convenience of email I still feel better actually speaking with the doctor even for routine matters. Tyler’s first pediatrician’s standard routine was to return all non-urgent calls when his office closed at 5:30. And he did so the same day or the following business day if you called during the weekends. This worked out fine for me.
Eventually, we may all communicate routine matters by email but for now most of us will probably pick continue to just pick up the telephone.
See also:
Is My Baby Developing Properly?
Is It Time To Get A New Pediatrician?