How easy is it to gain access to a healthcare professional when you need them? Does easy access equate with overuse or abuse of access to healthcare professionals? My experience led me to believe that making it easy for patients to connect with healthcare professionals generates greater satisfaction with care, more peace of mind, and no overuse or abuse of the system.
My father was a dentist in the days before cell phones and call centers. He performed dental surgeries and follow-up management, which was the standard practice. However, the nonstandard practice was giving patients his home phone number in case they had questions or concerns about their recovery. He asked me to guess how many calls he had received from his patients. After I guessed, he answered his question and responded, “zero.”
This is an interesting phenomenon that has, surprisingly, been studied. In a prospective study, seven orthopedic surgeons provided their personal cell phone numbers to approthe system.ximately 30 patients each. Only 10.1% of patients called their surgeons during the 30 days following receipt of the cell phone numbers. In another study, only a small percentage of patients called the surgeon’s cell phone. Furthermore, 72% of patients surveyed thought their treating surgeon cared more about their well-being if they provided a cell phone number.
My experience of giving some parents of patients my personal cell phone number validated these and my father’s results. Also, when I would see a child with a borderline ear infection, I provided the parents with a prescription for antibiotics if symptoms worsened over the next 24 to 48 hours. This prescription was often left unfilled, though it did mean something to patients.
Whether they use it or not, receiving an easy access method to contact their healthcare professional fosters a feeling of safety and security in patients’ minds. Of course, some will utilize the phone number and possibly abuse the privilege. But, it seems as though it is not as large a proportion of people as one would think, just as my father found out.
