I don’t mind taking other doctor’s calls, even if they need to interrupt me with a patient. In this business, sometimes things are urgent.
Patients usually don’t mind either. They figure that, if it was them in an emergency, they’d want the doctor to be willing to get on the phone, too.
What really irks me is when they have me interrupted for bogus reasons. My secretary will come get me if a doctor says it’s urgent, and I have no problem with that. I’d rather err on the side of caution rather then miss a phone call about a true emergency.
Unfortunately, this privilege gets abused. I’ve been pulled away from patients for "urgent" calls from:
• Radiologists marketing their MRI facility,
• Dentists wanting to offer me a "special" on teeth cleaning for my family and staff,
• PhDs or MDs working for a pharmaceutical company who want to tell me of some new drug or indication, and
• Financial advisers posing as doctors ("your secretary wouldn’t let me talk to you otherwise") who don’t seem to realize this is not going to make a good impression.
Most recently, a doctor who read one of my columns here called "urgently" to get me to sell a line of vitamin supplements out of my office. He claimed to have read all these columns, but obviously missed the one where I talked about how I’m opposed to the vitamin schemes.
When this happens I get off the phone, fast, and turn my attention back to the patient with an apology.
I don’t understand why people do this. Obviously, I have no interest in working with someone who’s dishonest enough to lie to my secretary about their true intentions or credentials. I can’t imagine they sucker other doctors, either, after an introduction like that.
Such behavior doesn’t lend itself to good business, good relationships, or good patient care. But I’ll keep taking their calls, because I’d rather hang up on 100 of them than miss one legitimate call from a doctor who needs my help in a pinch.
Dr. Block has a solo neurology practice in Scottsdale, Ariz.