Article on Secure Email Service (Healthmail)

 Universal Journal of Public Health Vol. 6(5), pp. 284 - 297 DOI: 10.13189/ujph.2018.060507 

An Evaluation of a Secure Email Service (Healthmail): A Cross-sectional Survey of Irish GPs

James Larkin ¹, Ivana Pericin ¹, Brian O'Mahoney ², Karina Hull ³, Claire Collins ^1,*
1 Research Department Irish College, Dublin, Ireland
² General Practice Information Technology (GPIT) Group, Irish College of General Practitioners, Dublin, Ireland
³ Healthlink, Kings Inn House, Ireland

ABSTRACT

Securing sensitive patient information has become increasingly important after cyber-attacks on healthcare systems. Many current forms of communication such as fax and letter are insecure. Effective cybersecurity can increase patient safety. Healthmail is a secure email service which acts as a means of transferring patient information. Healthmail is available to a range of Irish medical workers. An online survey was sent to Healthmail account holders and to general practitioners (GPs) in Ireland. Self-declared GP account holders' responses were examined to evaluate their usage of Healthmail, opinions on Healthmail's merits and suggestions for improving Healthmail. The response rate was 19.5% (276/1415). Over half (51.5%) of respondents sent at least one Healthmail email in the previous week. Overall, 64.7% (n=178) of respondents said Healthmail improves patient care. Also, 58.7% (n=155) of respondents said Healthmail should be expanded to other disciplines. Many respondents (40.5%) said they would be happy to communicate with patients using secure email. These results suggest that Healthmail's perceived utility is high and could increase. Therefore, Healthmail has the potential to become part of mainstream communication between healthcare workers.

KEYWORDS 
Healthmail, Electronic Mail, Primary Care, General Practice

Cite this paper 
James Larkin , Ivana Pericin , Brian O'Mahoney , Karina Hull , Claire Collins (2018). An Evaluation of a Secure Email Service (Healthmail): A Cross-sectional Survey of Irish GPs. Universal Journal of Public Health, 6 , 284 - 297. doi: 10.13189/ujph.2018.060507.

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http://www.hrpub.org/download/20180930/UJPH7-17611824.pdf