Table 3.

Frequency of potentially challenging or problematic secure message content in patient/caregiver-initiated threads

Type of content	Description	Overall, N = 945 (%)	Site 1, N = 461(%)	Site 2, N = 484 (%)	Fisher's exact test for site differences
Urgent	Health issues or content of sufficient severity that absence of immediate medical attention could be life-threatening or cause serious harm to patient (eg, shortness of breath)	7 (0.7)	6 (1.3)	1 (0.2)	0.0633
Offensive language	Verbal abuse, swearing, threatening	2 (0.2)	0 (0.0)	2 (0.4)	0.4998
Nonclinical	Sharing nonclinical information (not including life issues that could affect daily living, such as transportation)	21 (2.2)	20 (4.3)	1 (0.2)	<0.0001
Confusing	Rambling, nonsensical; stream of consciousness or unclear	15 (1.6)	11 (2.4)	4 (0.8)	0.0688
Sensitive	Personally sensitive content such as sexual issues, substance use, domestic violence	7 (0.7)	3 (0.7)	4 (0.8)	1.0000