The joys of weekend call:
One of my biggest challenges is understanding why patients consider an emergency as anything that they don’t want to wait until Monday, or even daylight. They want lab reports. They want advice on whether to get a flu shot. They want to know what that green cough medicine was their doctor recommended 3 years ago. They want their medicines”” that they only seem to know by color””refilled. And, of course, they are not satisfied with a few pills to get them through the weekend. They’re not going to pay a “full” copay for less than a “full” prescription.
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{ 1 comment }
Docs are so hesistant to ask “problem patients” to leave their practice.
The easiest way I know of is to have an after hours fee – if you call me, you get an after hours bill. Exceptions can be made if the call is a logical question (new parent panicking, new symptom, or anything the on call system is for).
I can’t tell you how many call I get (and I am not unique) between midnight and 3 AM wanting to know how “my relative in the ICU is doing.”
I’m the on call guy at night – I don’t see your relative unless he tries to die.
What happened to manners, or common sense? There ought to be an “idiot tax” for these kinds of calls.
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