I can't complain enough about people answering their phones during clinic visits. I swear to god, the next patient whose cell phone rings while I'm talking to them, I'm going to take it and throw it out the window. (If the exam rooms had windows, which they don't. Maybe I'll just run water over it in the sink.)
It’s kind of out of control. During any given clinic, about 75% of the time, the patient's cell phone starts ringing while I'm talking to them. At least a third of the time, it starts ringing more than once.
First, who the hell is calling these people at 10:30 in the morning? Second, if your doctor is talking to you, do you think you could stand to not answer your phone and just call the person back later? Believe it or not, people can turn off their cell phones for brief periods and be *gasp* unreachable for a short time, like back in the olden days before cell phones (back when lions had riches). I mean, you turn your cell phone off in the movie theater or at least put it on vibrate, right? Is it too much to ask to give your doctor as much courtesy as you would "Scary Movie 8"?
Last week I was interviewing a patient and his phone started ringing. He looked at me and said, "Should I not get that?"
I said, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't." Did he think I was just going to sit there while he chatted with his friend? I was so angry. I had two other patients waiting and I was tempted to just leave him in the room for another forty minutes with his cell phone while I saw them both first.
Agree entirely that this is annoying. Have you/your clinic ever thought about posting signs asking people to turn off their cell phones during visits?
ReplyDeleteTurning off cell phones? I come from a generation that didn't have them. I remember calling my parents collect - I remember "$1 a minute" long distance calls - my parents allowed themselves 20 minutes every Sunday after church to talk to me when I was in Undergrad. They had to sign up for the $1 per minute program (and they paid extra for it).
ReplyDeleteMy kids call me while I'm driving (until this year I didn't have BluTooth - or whatever) so they'd just keep calling and calling until I pulled over to the side of the road and answered - usually things like "Are you going to the store? If you do, I need grapes."
Reminds me of a great old Bloom County comic from back in the day. Opus the Penguin is eating a sub. An old lady sits down beside him and says "Do you mind if I smoke?" to which he replies, "Not at all! Do you mind if I burp pastrami belches in your face?"
ReplyDeleteDan....good one! i loved that comic!
ReplyDeletei can't imagine even having my cell phone on while at a Doctor (or other appointment). Besides, the only person who calls me is my mom.....
Signs don't work. We have them posted all over in the ER. Seeing them talking or texting their friends just helps us take their 12/10 pain more serious...
ReplyDeletePeople are just plain stupid. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteIn the hospital I rotate in, to avoid the problem, on the entrance of every exam room is a big piece of paper indicating to turn off every phone. People might not obey much, but I think I have barely seen anyone beeing called inside the exam room, and I don't think any of them actually picked it up. At least, no patients did. Maybe their companions, though, might have...
ReplyDeleteHonestly, if they answer the phone and actually start talking, just leave the room, and go see the next patient. They can wait until you're done there, and then go back.
ReplyDeleteAlthough less common than patients doing it to doctors, I had a doctor do this to me once. Her cell phone rang and she chatted it up with her college age daughter right in the middle of my appointment over topics that were clearly not urgent.
ReplyDeleteMy OB/GYN answered the phone once, while I was in the stirrups, of course that was the last time I saw her. I've had about 3 instances where doctors answered their phone while I was there and only once was it an emergency.
ReplyDeleteThat happened to me too. I found a new doc after that.
DeleteI only take calls from my kids' daycare when I'm with patients. If the daycare calls, it's usually about something pretty important, and I wouldn't be able to focus thinking something might have happened with my kids. But otherwise, I let all calls go to voicemail.
ReplyDeleteyeah, and then there are the patients who want to talk on their cell phones while you're trying to get their profile information for a script they're dropping off at the pharmacy... i guess we don't need to know your allergies/intolerances or anything about you to fill a script when you're a new patient. also, the ones who come to the register on their phone as well - i guess you don't need to be offered counseling, since you apparently aren't interested in anything except for your phone call.
ReplyDeleteI had a mom talking on the phone when I entered the room once. Since the kid was my patient, I breezed past her and started talking to the kid. After a few minutes, she finally hung up, then got all pissed off because my 'attitude' when walking in the room wasn't appropriate. And how she had somewhere to be at 5:30 (it was 4:30), and could I please hurry up?
ReplyDeleteI then started asking about safety (as the standard part of the physical), and she got pissed off enough to ask me to leave. First time I've been denied as a med student after I had already started the interview.
Course, there were no residents available to see her, so she ended up waiting another 20 minutes for one of them to start the same thing over again, and then they had to present to the attending. If she had let me do my thing, I could have presented to both the resident and attending at the same time, and she would've been out of there by 5.
I don't know if it's an american thing but thankfully phones haven't been ringing during clinics in britain. another contributing factor may be that signals aren't very good in hospitals!
ReplyDeleteperhaps the next time you see a patient who answers a call, tell that to the next patient and the next patient and so forth so that they won't do the same thing again.
If it's ok for you to take an important call, it should be ok for the patient too. How would you feel about "hold on, it's daycare". Social calls- unequivocally unacceptable. "excuse me, hi- is there an emergency? Ok will call you back shortly" should be ok for both if it's ok for you.
ReplyDeleteA favorite sign: if you're talking on your cell phone, will will help the next person- we wouldn't want to be rude and interrupt your call. But that respect has to go both ways....
I'm a physician, and I flat out do NOT carry my personal cell phone with me when I'm seeing a patient, to me that's unprofessional and downright rude!
ReplyDeleteI keep it in my office, even if my child's daycare called...I would be embarassed to take a call in front of a patient. I value and respect their time.
If I don't answer calls from the daycare, they could potentially ask my child to leave. And then I would really be screwed. And I would have difficulty focusing knowing that the daycare could be trying to contact me for a real emergency and being unable to. I have to take the risk of seeming rude in that relatively rare situation when they call (like once a month).
DeleteThe only time I carry my phone & answer it with a patient is if I have paged another physician for an important patient care issue. Otherwise, no. But I don't have kids in daycare anymore :-)
Delete-Grace
Your patient deserves the same respect you do. If you check your phone to see if the call is daycare, why can't they check their caller ID? It's disruptive and disrespectful for *either* the doctor or the patient to be checking phones. (Which is why I hate that my hospital expects RNs to answer calls while with a patient- calls from other families, etc. Just so rude...).
DeleteWhy can't daycare call your front desk and be told "she's with a patient, will call you in 10 min.". I told my kids daycare what I do and this was no problem.
Oh this topic makes me foam at the mouth. Lately too, the phrase, "can you please hang up your phone down so we can talk ?" isn't enough. Have to specify,"....and put it away." or it gets pulled out again halfway thru the encounter.
ReplyDeleteNow I give about 5 seconds and then let them know I'll try to come back at a more convenient time. And move on to the next patient. IN THE ER.
You should post a sign that says, "if you answer your cell phone while talking to the staff, you'll be asked to leave and reschedule."
ReplyDelete...unless someone is going to literally die if you don't answer the phone.
I am permanently attached to the stupid phone (it's like an addiction or something) even to check the weather every five minutes.
ReplyDeleteBut even I put it away with both my doctor visits, and my patient visits. I leave it in my bag, and I leave the bag outside.
I have a pager for when people need to get a hold of me.
I've had teenage patients that were better than their parents. They pay more attention to me than their mother, who is texting god-knows-who.
Actually, I walked in once and all three (kid + parents) were on their cellphones, typing furiously. But they were just sharing "our kid is fine don't worry" after 100% attention for like an entire hour, so that was cool. Funny sight though.