I’m truly curious. This has happened more than once. Today, for example. Called a doctor because of a medical situation in my house (not covid-related). The service said he’d call back in a few minutes. It’s been six hours.
Why would a doctor who gets a message from his answering service say to himself, “Nah, not going to call the patient.”?
Yeah I don’t get it. It happens to my elderly dad and he’s not the type to call for minor issues. The last time the doctor failed to return his call he ended up in the ER.
It is almost always that the message didn’t go through from the call center or the doc has someone else covering call and the system has the wrong doc listed. Spouse and I (and every doc we know) answer all of our calls, sometimes takes 20-30 min if we are on another call. If it is longer than that, call again.
Thank you for your response.
Could it be that the answering service told you that, but did not actually know for sure whether the physician was accessible in a few minutes (versus being on an airplane or in some other situation with no mobile phone service)?
I respond right away. But sometimes the answering service has new people (this is happening more) and they don’t get it to get ahold of the doctor or they will log a call and then drop the ball. Call back if you don’t get a call within an hour and… Stay off your phone. It drives me crazy that the phone is constantly busy when someone states it’s important to call back but their line is busy…
I have a MyChart account and send an email with any issue to my PCP. She, or a nurse, always answers promptly, but you can actually mark the messages urgent or high priority to get even faster response.
I love it. No need to rely on a messages being forwarded correctly. You can also send a message to someone else you’ve seen (like a specialist) and my doctor gets those messages too. She will usually follow up on those within a week just to make sure I don’t need anything.
In this day and age, still busy signals?
When I’ve called, the service says please call back if you don’t get a call from the md within 30-60 minutes. I’ve always gotten a response. All the MDs I know are very responsive and conscientious—especially if they’re on call. They will leave dinner, theater, whatever they’re at to respond to patients.
We have better luck emailing via the system’s online portal. Seems that the answering services drop the ball too often.
Yes… If your on your cell then it’s busy…
We offer this also. In our small office the email goes to me personally and I respond right away…
I get busy signals when I call some cell phones.
The other thing…there is a feature on an iPhone where any number not listed on your contacts doesn’t ring, it’s silenced…goes directly to voice mail. So…check your voice mail. AND make sure the doctor number you have is listed on your contacts. Although I KNOW this isn’t always possible because often a cell phone that is NOT the office number is used to return your call. So….check your voice mail or turn that feature off when you have placed a call to a doctor.
My brother in law is a physician and his phone number does not show up ever. Says private. We have his number yet it does not show on our phones.
I agree with the others about a mix up between the calling service and the on call physician.
I’ve been with people on call and they all have been very prompt. The craziest was a pediatrician who literally never stopped answering her call. She could do nothing else.
I communicate with my doctors via emails now. They are in a very large practice. When they are off my emails are routed to other doctors.
My H had two back-to-back knee replacement surgeries. His recovery from first surgery was easy. With the second surgery—not so much! He went in for a followup at 5 weeks and the orthopedic surgeon looked at the X-rays and his knee and pronounced it “perfect!” He said-“come see me in a year.” Long story short—his knee was still painful, swollen, and red. He sent photos thru the communication portal and got no response. Copied his PCP who called and told him to come see her. She sent him for x-rays and a sonogram—results good but PCP says H has cellulitis. She prescribed a heavy duty antibiotic, which seems to be working. Ortho copied on all this—no response. This is a Harvard teaching hospital! Honestly, this surgeon is like a rock star—come in and do the show, get on the tour bus, and move on!
IN general the biggest reason that I dont call back is that I call the patient immediately and they dont pick up.
Yes, all the time! And then I leave a message, but they don’t check it.
and then say you never called back, it is so annoying. My favorite is when the mailbox is full.
Or you get the message that the number is not set up for voice mail!