Rules for Email Etiquette When Communicating Electronically in the Business and Clinical Environment

Make sure there are no grammatical or professional errors. Did you spell the recipient`s name correctly? Are there any spelling mistakes? Do you use simple sentence structures and correct capitalization and punctuation? Ignoring these compromises will compromise your professionalism and the credibility of your email. 8. It`s good to be informal, but not sloppy. Avoid slang, the use of abbreviations is acceptable for emails within the office, but avoid using them in patient emails. You can`t expect them to understand them. Before responding to an email, consider whether a response would help or hinder communication. Sometimes it is enough to let the problem go out instead of reacting and rekindling the fire. Whether you`re sending a short email or answering a question, the subject line should be informative and accurate. You don`t want a cute subject line that confuses the reader and makes them lose respect for your healthcare organization. You might think that all of this practice would make us all experts in the art of email communication, but many professionals still do it wrong. The accidental “reply to all” in a private email certainly happens more often than HR departments want to process.

And how many times have you received an irrelevant, inappropriate or aggressive email? Do you need help with digital communication in healthcare? WriterGirl can help you communicate with manners. Our healthcare writers know how to incorporate etiquette into all the content they produce while maintaining your unique voice. Contact us to find out more. Your mistakes will not go unnoticed by the recipients of your email. “And depending on the recipient, you can be found guilty of making them,” says Pachter. Si уоu send оut аnу correspondence bу e-mail, there is а сеrtаіn amount оf etiquette thаt уоu nееd tо follow. As a professional, the last thing you want is to look like an amateur in the world of e-business communication. Whether you`re emailing a client, colleague, or your boss, it`s important to use email etiquette in order to appear both professional and knowledgeable. Good manners are still important today and especially important for digital communication in healthcare. From subject line to signature, what you write in an email to a patient can have a huge impact on your practice. Here are some standard rules you should follow regarding email behavior: A good rule to keep in mind, according to Pachter, is that high-context cultures (Japanese, Arabic, or Chinese) want to get to know you before doing business with you.

Therefore, it may be common for trading partners of these countries to be more personal in their writing. On the other hand, people from cultures with little contextualization (German, American or Scandinavian) prefer to get to the point very quickly. “You don`t want to accidentally send an email before you`ve finished writing and revising the message,” says Pachter. “Even if you`re replying to a message, it`s a good precaution to remove the recipient`s address and insert it only when you`re sure the message is ready to be sent.” Finally, email storage and retrieval must be integrated into a comprehensive electronic health record (EMR) and patient education resources, some of which are web-based. EMRs via secure internal websites, called intranets, are seen as the future of clinical IT services and will encompass email functions. However, e-mail and other computerized resources are not a fully satisfactory substitute for personal clinical assessment. Ultimately, assessments of quality of care outcomes of complementary forms of communication need to be compared to physical contact. You should always have an email address that conveys your name so that the recipient knows exactly who is sending the email. Never use email addresses (perhaps remnants of your elementary school days) that are not appropriate for the workplace, such as “babygirl@… ” or “beerlover@… ” – no matter how much you like a cold brew. The cardinal rule: Your emails should be easy for others to read.

Don`t rely on the spell checker. Read and read your email several times, preferably aloud, before sending it. An email to a patient is also not the right time to experiment with different text colors. Some colors, such as light pink or yellow, are difficult to read. Others may be too distracting or convey the wrong message. Red text for an appointment reminder can make the patient think that something is wrong. Even more tame shades like green or purple can confuse patients and make them believe that you are unprofessional. Automatic messages can often seem impersonal and should be used sparingly. However, there are some situations where it is appropriate to send an automated response. For example, they can be useful if you are responding to an unsolicited email from someone who is not a patient. On the other hand, you don`t want the first thing they see to be a lengthy clinical statement that doesn`t prompt them to open the email.

A patient is more likely to open a subject line that says, “Answers to your questions about cancer symptoms” than “abnormal epidemiological and clinical symptoms of cancer.” It`s hard to reply to every email you`ve been sent, but you should try, Pachter says.