Background Global access to information technology has increased dramatically in the past decade, with electronic health care changing medical practice. One example for general practitioners (GPs) is communication with patients via electronic mail (email). GPs face issues regarding e-communication with patients, including how and when it should it be used. Objective The study aims were to assess the extent that GPs communicate with patients by email and explore their attitudes to this mode of communication. Methods Design -telephone interview survey. Setting -primary care, largest urban and suburban area in New Zealand (NZ). Subjects -randomly selected GPs from the Auckland region. Main outcome measure -description of email use; analysis of issues by telephone survey. Data analysed using SPSS-12 and by thematic content analysis. Results At data saturation, 80 GPs had been interviewed. The majority (68%) had not used email with patients. Only 4% used it regularly. However,

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