Cellphones in Medical Offices
Yesterday, I saw a little girl in the clinic with a variety of medical complaints. Accompanying her was her father. As soon as I started my medical history, it became apparent that he did not have those answers. He asked to call his wife on the cell phone. We have a big sign on the back of the door banning the use of cell phones in the exam rooms, but under the circumstances, I agreed. Big mistake.
Within seconds, the mother (waiting at home for an appliance repair person) was on the speaker phone and the medical encounter took a turn south. Not only did I have to repeat everything that I just told the father, I now had some three-way dialogues and simultaneous talking going on. Every attempt that I made to shorten this painful phone interaction was thwarted by more questions...more requests...interruptions. I am going to make a bigger PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE sign.
I would bet that over HALF of my patient encounters are interrupted by a cell phone. Someone is invariably on the phone as I walk in the room. It can take some uncomfortable seconds before that call terminates. I gotta go, Mom, the doctor is here. Or, during the most inopportune moment, the cell phone will ring. Even if no one answers it, we all have to listen to a tinny version of the ring tone song. Surprisingly, may people excuse themselves and answer it! They carry on a brief conversation, hang up, and try to continue on with the medical encounter as if nothing happened. Not only is this practice rude and disrespectful, it can be dangerous.
The practice of medicine does not tolerate interruptions very well. You get a train of thought and then a phone rings. You are writing a prescription and a phone rings. You are reaching a vital point in the medical interaction, and a phone rings. These interruptions are happening to ALL medical providers, not just me.
I have been very close to dumping my Diet Coke on someone's head at a movie theater when they answer a cell phone next to me. Yeah, I'm sitting in a movie. King Kong. Awesome. I am getting real close to losing my professional demeanor in the exam room.
Here's what I'm going to do...
When I come into the room and the patient or parent is on the phone, I will leave and go see another patient. It gives them 15-20 minutes to finish that important call. If they are still on the phone when I come back, I will do it again. I work 12-hour shifts, so this is not a big deal for me.
If I am asked to talk to an absent person that was too busy to come to the medical encounter, I will most likely refuse.
If the phone rings during a visit, I will tell them to answer it. I will leave and come back. Eventually. I may even go to lunch.
Related Topics: Cell Phones Can Blind Drivers, Simplify Your Life
Technorati Tags: healthcare, cellphone, etiquette
Within seconds, the mother (waiting at home for an appliance repair person) was on the speaker phone and the medical encounter took a turn south. Not only did I have to repeat everything that I just told the father, I now had some three-way dialogues and simultaneous talking going on. Every attempt that I made to shorten this painful phone interaction was thwarted by more questions...more requests...interruptions. I am going to make a bigger PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE sign.
I would bet that over HALF of my patient encounters are interrupted by a cell phone. Someone is invariably on the phone as I walk in the room. It can take some uncomfortable seconds before that call terminates. I gotta go, Mom, the doctor is here. Or, during the most inopportune moment, the cell phone will ring. Even if no one answers it, we all have to listen to a tinny version of the ring tone song. Surprisingly, may people excuse themselves and answer it! They carry on a brief conversation, hang up, and try to continue on with the medical encounter as if nothing happened. Not only is this practice rude and disrespectful, it can be dangerous.
The practice of medicine does not tolerate interruptions very well. You get a train of thought and then a phone rings. You are writing a prescription and a phone rings. You are reaching a vital point in the medical interaction, and a phone rings. These interruptions are happening to ALL medical providers, not just me.
I have been very close to dumping my Diet Coke on someone's head at a movie theater when they answer a cell phone next to me. Yeah, I'm sitting in a movie. King Kong. Awesome. I am getting real close to losing my professional demeanor in the exam room.
Here's what I'm going to do...
When I come into the room and the patient or parent is on the phone, I will leave and go see another patient. It gives them 15-20 minutes to finish that important call. If they are still on the phone when I come back, I will do it again. I work 12-hour shifts, so this is not a big deal for me.
If I am asked to talk to an absent person that was too busy to come to the medical encounter, I will most likely refuse.
If the phone rings during a visit, I will tell them to answer it. I will leave and come back. Eventually. I may even go to lunch.
Related Topics: Cell Phones Can Blind Drivers, Simplify Your Life
Technorati Tags: healthcare, cellphone, etiquette
5 Comments:
Cell phone misuse can take place on the other side of the stethoscope as well. My husband was in an appointment with his cardiologist, the first one after a 3-day hospitalization that resulted from an intractable nosebleed caused by coumadin whose dosage had not yet been stabilized. The MD was interrupted twice in the 15 min. appt. by his cell, and took the calls from the garage where his BMW was being buffed. We changed doctors, but I hope the practice managed to get this young man back on track before they get sued.
I am a nurse working at a large teaching hospital where, for the first time in my 26 year career, I am required to carry a cellphone at all times. It certainly cuts down on the running around trying to find people but it seems to me that patients might resent the interruption when we are discussing something important and possibly hard to talk about, ie end of life issues or something as simple as bowel status and problems patients might be having with that. There is also the issue of how to answer the thing when I'm in an isolation room. There is no way to change gloves before answering it and I'm unsure if cleaning with alcohol or other preparations are really effective at killing VRE or MRSA. I agree with the writer. Doctors are just as obnoxious as any other group of people when it comes to cellphones. They also have a very long history of demanding that nurses drop whatever they are doing, no matter what it is, to attend to whatever it is they want. So, on the matter of interruptions, I score most MD's with a "check minus" as the nuns used to say.
Well, if doctors would spent more than 2 minutes and 30 seconds in the exam room and actually listen to patients maybe more patients would silence their phones. Personally, I think making the doctor wait is a nice change. Especially, considering the amount of money we patients pay to be forced to wait for that 2 minute appointment.
I don't think either patient or doctor should answer a cell phone when with talking to each other. All business and professional life can be structured so this is not necessary. It is simply an affront to the other person present. If the other person's phone rings, I ask them to call the person back later (before they answer). If they answer, I leave with no explanation (they should know), unless my total livihood depends on it (which it almost never does).
To a very large extent answering cell phones reflects poor personal and organizational management, so I have little respect for those who answer their phones in a conference.
poor poor doctor. your ego is huge. quit crying and just do your job like the rest us. Buck up !
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