Give them your card so they can make an appt

Casadena

Dear Prudence,

My husband and I are both doctors. When people find out—particularly in social settings—they think nothing of describing their symptoms and/or asking us to diagnose them. How do we get the message across that we aren’t on call?

flantastic

"Oh it's a liability for me to give medical advice outside of appointments because we can't chart it - sounds like you should talk to your PCP about that."

banana468

Casadena said:

Dear Prudence,

My husband and I are both doctors. When people find out—particularly in social settings—they think nothing of describing their symptoms and/or asking us to diagnose them. How do we get the message across that we aren’t on call?

"Oh I'm so sorry I'm here watching my kiddo's baseball game but we can definitely try to talk about this in my office if you want to make an appointment."

People will do this no matter what your profession is.  My dad was an electrician and acquaintances would ask him to install ceiling fans or do electrical work.  Always on the weekend and always when that was his only free time.  He finally stopped doing it and whittled the requests down to a very small list of people who were basically immediate family.  

LW can do the same and know that if someone needs medical attention you jump up and give the Heimlich. 

levioosa

No no don't give out your card and tell them to make an appointment, then you'll never escape it! lol

One of our doctors (who has since retired) used to give out his cell number to patients (like, all of them, not just fragile or critical ones). I can't even imagine. 

MyNameIsNot

My uncle was a doctor and would always do the "call the office on Monday and set up an appointment to check into it." He was our family doctor through my childhood and even delivered me, and was the family doctor for the majority of my dad's massive family. Plus my aunt (his sister) was his nurse. I don't know how they managed family reunions. 

One of the things I miss the least about practicing law is that no one does this to me anymore. I guess it's kind of nice that no one understands what I do. 

Casadena

levioosa said:

No no don't give out your card and tell them to make an appointment, then you'll never escape it! lol

One of our doctors (who has since retired) used to give out his cell number to patients (like, all of them, not just fragile or critical ones). I can't even imagine. 

I just assumed very few people would actually follow up on that but maybe i'm wrong!!

levioosa

Casadena said:

levioosa said:

No no don't give out your card and tell them to make an appointment, then you'll never escape it! lol

One of our doctors (who has since retired) used to give out his cell number to patients (like, all of them, not just fragile or critical ones). I can't even imagine. 

I just assumed very few people would actually follow up on that but maybe i'm wrong!!

God help me with MyChart alone. I can't even finish the day sometimes without patients that I saw literally two hours earlier sending a message about something we a) talked about at length in the appointment and b) after not only talking about it, I GAVE PRINTED INSTRUCTIONS AND HANDOUTS. I couldn't fathom giving out my cell unless it was a truly extenuating circumstance. People get mad too. "I used to be able to call him any time day or night." Yeah, and maybe unfettered access to one doctor with a panel of 3000 patients is actual insanity.

Casadena

levioosa said:

Casadena said:

levioosa said:

No no don't give out your card and tell them to make an appointment, then you'll never escape it! lol

One of our doctors (who has since retired) used to give out his cell number to patients (like, all of them, not just fragile or critical ones). I can't even imagine. 

I just assumed very few people would actually follow up on that but maybe i'm wrong!!

God help me with MyChart alone. I can't even finish the day sometimes without patients that I saw literally two hours earlier sending a message about something we a) talked about at length in the appointment and b) after not only talking about it, I GAVE PRINTED INSTRUCTIONS AND HANDOUTS. I couldn't fathom giving out my cell unless it was a truly extenuating circumstance. People get mad too. "I used to be able to call him any time day or night." Yeah, and maybe unfettered access to one doctor with a panel of 3000 patients is actual insanity.

Definitely meant cards with the office number!!!! But yes the amount of access patients expect from their providers is insane.

I'm part of a couple mom's groups for kids with cancer/etc diagnoses and i try very hard to be understanding and supportive, but the entitlement and the audacity around this exact issue is so off-putting. Yes, the Drs/NP/PAs/nurses are there to help our kids and answer our questions. No, they do not need to be answering the phone at 3am bc you don't like the on-call doctor or the nurse this shift isn't your favorite. 

short+sassy

banana468 said:

Casadena said:

Dear Prudence,

My husband and I are both doctors. When people find out—particularly in social settings—they think nothing of describing their symptoms and/or asking us to diagnose them. How do we get the message across that we aren’t on call?

"Oh I'm so sorry I'm here watching my kiddo's baseball game but we can definitely try to talk about this in my office if you want to make an appointment."

People will do this no matter what your profession is.  My dad was an electrician and acquaintances would ask him to install ceiling fans or do electrical work.  Always on the weekend and always when that was his only free time.  He finally stopped doing it and whittled the requests down to a very small list of people who were basically immediate family.  

LW can do the same and know that if someone needs medical attention you jump up and give the Heimlich. 

Now I remember you've mentioned that before!

My dad was also an electrician, though didn't work for himself.  He was union and worked commercial projects.  But he used to do free work for friends and people at our church all the time.  People usually insisted on paying him and he would refuse to take any money.  

Which annoyed my mom, lol.  She would tell him, "Hey!  This is your free time.  Take the money!  They are still paying way less than if they hired someone and can trust the work."

He was a giving and generous person, who liked to help others.

banana468

@short+sassy he also wasn't self employed.  He worked for a government contractor in various departments so the requests were always acting like he could do it in his free time.  

The other issue is that many didn't even offer to compensate.