Doctors failing to return a call delays care, both on the hospital floors and in the emergency room. There were several times where I’ve left home without my pager, but a simple call to the answering service to redirect calls to my cell phone fixed that.
Not knowing when you’re on call is simply irresponsible, and there really isn’t any excuse for that.
Related posts:
- Use of the on-call physician
- An on-call committee to disclose medical errors
- Specialty call in the ER
- My take: Paying for call, Muslims in medicine
- On-call hospital tips
- Call and extreme hours kills a doctor
- Should doctors be paid to e-mail their patients?
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{ 3 comments }
I don’t see how this is such a big issue with the advent of cell phones. Was this written 20 years ago? Every hospital I’ve ever been at, the operator has a cell phone number and home phone number for each physician. Pagers are left at home. Batteries die. There are other ways to get ahold of someone.
“The fact remains that those less than wonderful parts of the job are still part of the job that we signed up for and they need to be done….Providers have a responsibility to be readily available to fulfill their on call obligations….Emergency department (ED) patient flow is slowed compounding the crowding issue that already plagues many EDs.”
While I completely agree that if you are supposed to be on call and have informed your patients or a health care facility that you are on call, it is your professional responsibility to answer the call.
That said, there is nowhere in the Hippocratic Oath that says “I will take call.” Doctors have traditionally taken call due a sense of responsibility to the patient. However, what other profession agrees to wake up at any hour of the night, make important decisions, incur liability and not get paid? Though I understand the sentiment of this post, I am frustrated with patient’s expectation that they get to call their doctor whenever they want for free. In the days when pay was better, primary care physicians gladly took call. However, now that times are tough, the public ought to be aware that having your doctor on call as a freebie that will likely soon go away. As fewer and fewer doctors go into primary care, this also means that there are fewer folks to share call responsibility. With the newer generation of physicians valuing work life balance and shift work, the days of being able to talk to your doctor after hours when you are scared, worried, have concerns or simply forgot to refill your medication on time will be a thing of the past….unless you are willing to pay for this.
I don’t know how you can forget something you hate. When I see my name on the calender, its like 10 days of root canal every month. You tend not to forget that.
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