Joey M.D.

To give or not to give a cellular phone number?  That is the question…

I do give my cell phone number to my patients. There are certainly pros and cons to doing so, but for me, the pros outweigh the cons.  But then I’m in a specialty (ophthalmology) that does not have a lot of emergencies.  That’s unlike other specialties who deal with more emergencies.  Here are the pros and cons of giving out a cell phone number to patients.  Of course, this is from a doctor’s point of view.  Don’t worry, I’ll be coming up with another article in another blog, this time from the point of view of a patient or a parent (for pedia patients).

Pros:

• Doctors are perceived to be more concerned and caring when they give patients a way to contact them whenever they want to.
• Patients are assured that the doctor is just a call or a text away.
• Patients can look for still look for their doctor even if he/she changed clinics or clinic hours.
• If the medication prescribed by the doctor happens to be out of stock, the patient can immediately ask the doctor about what other medications can be substituted.
• Patient can set or confirm appointments with the doctor.

Cons:

• Patients can call at all hours…even during the times when we are supposed to be resting or sleeping.
• Patients call for emergencies…but sometimes emergencies need to be addressed not by a phone call or text but with a trip to the ER where the proper physical examination and subsequent management can be done.
• Patient use the text/phone call as a substitute for an actual consultation.  There is no substitute for an actual face to face consult with physical examination.  A text or phone consult is good only for general advise, but of course we know that health conditions are NOT the same for everybody.

So, should doctors give out their cell phone numbers to their patients?  It’s up to you, really.  But in this day and age of easy communication, patients will feel much better if they do have a way to contact you.  My view as a patient here.

My experience with giving out cellular phone numbers is not all bad.  In fact, I do believe that I reap more benefits than troubles.  Most of my patients text only when they want to confirm my schedule (I actually encourage them to do especially if they came all the way from a faraway province).  Some patients call me just after the consultation because the medicines I prescribed just happened to be unavailable at the drug store.  Some patients call when there are floods or storms to reschedule appointments.

Maybe it’s because of my specialty, which is Ophthalmology.  We do not really too many emergencies, so I figured that it would be okay if I give out my number.  And true enough, while I have one or two calls about their conditions and who would be happy enough to see me at the clinic or at the ER, I don’t believe I’ve gotten any call that woke me in the middle of the night for some trivial matter.  I guess the case would be different for doctors in specialties like OB, Pediatrics, or any of the Internal Medicine or Surgery sub-specialties.  I know of some doctors who actually get calls at 3 o’clock in the morning asking for breastfeeding advise.  I mean, come on…that is hardly an emergency!  For really really emergency cases when medical attention is needed ASAP, the emergency room is the place where proper consultation and management should be done.  Not an SMS message or a phone call!

As a patient / mom of patient / daughter of a patient myself, I do appreciate it when a doctor gives me his/her cellular number and as much as possible, I try not to abuse the “privileged” information and just use it when there is really a need to.  Here are the guidelines for “proper” cell phone use.