Virtual links to the emergency department

Eddy Lang and colleagues were quite optimistic in their expectations of the power of communication between the emergency department (ED) and family physicians.1 We all want to reduce duplication and unnecessary admissions to hospital. These benefits of an electronic communications system, however, would not attract me as a practising family doctor. Instead, the benefits I find useful are the time saved in not having to hound hospitals for information and the increased comfort I would feel in knowing what had actually happened to my patient in the ED. Family physicians are leaving their practice in droves and having timely information to make clinical decisions is one factor that may make family practice more palatable.