Protect Yourself and Your Patients When Communicating Electronically

August 20, 2026 | 1 min. read

While clear, timely communication supports safe patient care, it’s important to remember that messages can be viewed by a third party and are typically recoverable regardless of whether they are sent from personal or hospital-approved devices. Additionally, messages sent between clinicians both from personal and hospital devices have been used as evidence in legal cases.
 
What you need to know 
​
Any message about patient care may be reviewed. This includes Epic Secure Chat, Vocera, pager messages, personal texts and email.
 
For example, in one court case — which did not involve Northwestern Medicine — physicians exchanged texts after a patient death. Messages included admissions of fault, speculation and negative comments about colleagues. These texts were later used as evidence and weakened the defense.
 
Keep the following in mind when sending communications:

• Messages on approved platforms can be retrieved years later with full details, such as timestamps and sender/recipient names.
• Personal devices and deleted messages may still be subject to review.
• Paging vendors and hospital systems can retrieve message content, timestamps and logs.
• Pages related to patient care may be reviewed to reconstruct events and timelines.
• Artificial intelligence‑assisted messages are also subject to discovery.

 
The goal is not to limit communication but to promote clear, professional communication that supports care and protects you.
 
Good clinical communication typically fits these guidelines:

• Clear, concise and focused on the patient
• Objective and based on fact
• Free of blame, speculation or commentary

What you need to do

• Write every message as if a patient or third party could read it.
• Keep tone professional. Avoid sarcasm, venting or informal language.
• Avoid mixing personal and clinical content.
• Use emojis with caution. A reaction may be interpreted as agreement with inappropriate content.
• Send communications through approved tools such as Epic Secure Chat or Vocera. Communication tools change frequently, so make sure to remain updated on approved platforms.
• If you are using an AI tool, remember that you are responsible for verifying accuracy, clinical appropriateness and tone before sending any message. AI tools are not a safe place for protected health information unless explicitly approved.

Additional information 

If there are workflow barriers that make communication difficult, escalate the concern through a leader.
 
Report patient safety concerns, near misses and good catches by submitting a NETS report or by contacting Risk Management. These reports provide valuable learnings.
 
When reporting:

• Be clear and concise.
• Stick to the facts rather than your analysis.
• Avoid speculation or blame.

 
Use this tip sheet as a reminder of what and why to report.