Many of my colleagues feel that e-mail is destroying the art of writing, because of its informality and simplicity. And they feel that e-mail will eat up their schedules if they get caught up in the opening and sending of the seemingly endless procession of messages.

In contrast, I feel that e-mail has greatly enhanced and expanded the art of communication. It helps us talk to many individuals around the world in a formal or informal way, without wasting time.

Let’s look at how it can benefit your practice, when you use it the right way.

By delegating all of your e-mail communication to an assistant or by simply not using e-mail, you pass up an opportunity to keep yourself up to date.

In our office, we use e-mail to communicate with everyone on our staff. This lets me get a message across when I have time to send it, and lets the recipient read it when he or she has time. By using a "broadcast" feature in our e-mail, we can send a message throughout the office with a push of a button.

Communicating by e-mail saves me a lot of time, especially because I think better when I’m typing the message myself. It eliminates the inconvenience of writing and reviewing drafts, including the excessive time required to have an assistant type the memo, then to re-type it after my review of the draft. It also saves a lot of paper and facilitates instant dissemination of information.

Externally, I use e-mail to keep in touch with all sorts of people, and to communicate with various organizations and businesses.

Think about the simplicity of it: I type a note or a letter, address it, press a key, and the message is instantly sent to the recipient — who can retrieve it by pressing a key.

The recipient can print the note, if desired, or answer it instantly by pressing the "reply" key and typing a response.

All of this eliminates the need to formally address an envelope, apply a stamp, and mail the letter at a mailbox or a post office. Rather than waiting several days for "snail mail" delivery, the recipient receives your e-mail message in a matter of seconds — and can reply back in seconds.

Informal notes, easy to write and send, become just as important as formal letters when I use e-mail, especially when I’m communicating with friends and colleagues. When a problem or question arises that requires a rapid response or consultation, I can respond immediately.

I also typically respond immediately to questions from colleagues and patients. If necessary, I can then follow up with a paper mailing, or by calling the patient or doctor, depending on the circumstances.

My personal e-mail attracts about 15 to 20 messages per day. I scan them all in about 5 to 10 minutes. It doesn’t take long to respond to those that require an answer. Much of the rest is information that I can review when I have more time. When traveling, I usually can access my e-mail from any place in the country.

Questions come in from all over the world. (Recently, I had one from Japan.)

The advantages of e-mail go on. Consider some of them:

• Keeping you up to date on current events.
Each day, I receive the latest news summaries from the New York Times, as well as the latest information on managed care and other areas of interest.
• Enhancing your personal life, even when you’re busy at the office.
My son scanned pictures of his new baby daughter (my new granddaughter) into his computer and used e-mail to instantly transmit them to family and friends. This brought a smile to my face, between patients.
• Letting you tap into a world of information.
By e-mailing to sites on the World Wide Web, you can link with great minds. Most Web sites have an e-mail component for questions or comments, making two-way communication easy.
Some of the sites I regularly visit are: the American Academy of Ophthalmology (www.eyenet.org); the Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists (www.clao.org); the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (www.ascrs.org); and Ophthalmology Management magazine (ophmanagement.com).
• Giving you access to the latest products.
For example, most contact lens companies have sites that let you read new information and ask them questions. Ordering lenses and supplies by e-mail is becoming increasingly feasible, reducing product costs, paperwork, waiting time, ordering errors and staff time.
• Strengthening your Web presence.
Our office Web site (www.COAEYE.com) lets patients and others send us e-mail messages or questions and receive a fast response.
This approach shouldn’t be used for urgent problems, which still require the use of the phone for an immediate response. Currently, our Web site receives about five e-mails per week, but we expect this activity to grow.
Two people in my practice screen the queries and route them to the correct person to provide an answer. We’ve thought about asking patients to fill out and e-mail patient information forms before coming in for appointments. But I feel this is premature right now.
• Creating new opportunities and efficiencies.
I wrote this article at home and sent it to the editor the same day. After writing comments and suggestions, he transmitted the manuscript back to me for completion by the next day.

Now that you’re familiar with the advantages of using e-mail in your practice, you may wonder why people complain about it so much I suggest it’s because they’re not using their e-mail correctly. You’ve heard of junk mail, right? Well, as you may know by now, junk mail is an ever-present distraction in your e-mail, especially if you’re a frequent user. (High Internet activity attracts more incoming messages.)

Unwanted messages include advertising, promotions for sex lines, mass mailings and other items. They create a real nuisance that you can’t avoid completely. But you can minimize their effect on your schedule by scanning messages, as I do, and deleting the junk mail quickly. You can easily recognize unwanted e-mail and instantly eliminate it by pressing the delete button.

I tell everybody who I communicate with on e-mail to put brief, specific information in the subject lines of their e-mails. Otherwise, they risk having me delete their messages. (This is rarely a problem, however.) Of course, all of my patients know to continue to relay urgent messages or requests directly to the office by telephone.

Another objection to communicating by e-mail is that it seems too impersonal. But this need not be true if you write your e-mail messages with a personal touch. Make them an outgrowth of your personality.

But a word of caution: Be careful about what you put in e-mail, especially potentially embarrassing information. Your e-mail may go to someone else when you click the wrong button, or when you have the wrong address, or if someone forwards your message to someone else.

Even when e-mail is deleted, it remains hidden in your computer and can be retrieved later in the event of potential legal or criminal cases.

E-mail has become essential in my life, enabling me to be more productive and efficient. I keep in touch with friends and family — and get the professional information I need. If you haven’t used e-mail, you’re missing out on a great opportunity.

If you’ve given up on it, try it again, using the guidelines in this article. Getting involved with e-mail is both functional and fun.

Next Month: A new role for the fax machine — once your staff clears the ever-present paper piles and organizes your approach.