If you are a manager of any notable
size of office or especially a doctor,
you'll need someone answering the phone
for you when you aren't there. I personally
hire the services of a professional
answering service, rather than having
to contact my voicemail constantly to
check for emergencies or worried calls
from patients. Having a service answering
the phone for me means that I can take
trips or relax without worry and I don't
have to reveal my personal information.
If some emergency does come up, the
answering service will put it through
to tell me that I better call back immediately
because, for example, Mrs. Jones is
about to have her baby, or Mr. Smith
has a recurrence of that stomach pain
and may need to be hospitalized. It
really takes the worry out of being
a doctor to have someone answering the
phone for you.
Of course, there are a variety of
answering services to look for. If
you work in a large hospital like
I did until recently, there is an
in house answering service of sorts.
The desk will be answering the phone
and telling me if there is anything
that needs my attention. Unfortunately,
they are pretty poor at judging the
difference between an emergency and
something routine that can wait for
the next day while I'm out for dinner
with my family. They would really
call about just about everything,
ringing my pager for routine medical
questions that I could have easily
answered in the office the next day,
or pestering me about people wanting
to reschedule at all hours of the
night.
It's important that the people you
have answering the phone don't ere
the other way, both for legal reasons
and for the long term safety and health
of all of your patients. I had a colleague
who just such a thing happened to.
It seemed that his answering service
couldn't be bothered to call him in
the middle of the night, no matter
what. After several nearly serious
mishaps, including one with a patient
who had a serious reaction to a medication
prescribed by him, the doctor told
them specifically, that if there is
any doubt they should call him when
answering the phone just in case there
is really a very serious medical emergency.
Unfortunately, they were tragically
negligent. Someone, complaining of
stabbing pains in his stomach should
have been hospitalized immediately,
but his doctor wasn't told by the
answering service, so couldn't do
anything about it. The man almost
died from accute appendicitis, which
just goes to show you how important
it is to demand the highest of service.
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