Doctor's Office Question

[morethananyonex]

No, this isn't a "diagnose me" thread .

Does your doctor's office take questions over the phone, and will they pass on the question to your doctor? Mine doesn't, they refuse to answer a question about anything, and I mean ANYTHING. They require you to make an appointment, even if your question is "Does ________ sound like something I should come in for?" Biggest. Pain. Ever.

How about you?

 

[Christine]

My GP's office does not do the "nurse advice" line. I mean, I can really understand why they would not.

However, the GYN and pediatrican do have this available in case you have something minor that you are unsure of.

 

[heatherwillmom]

It becomes a legal issue if you ask a nurse if you should come in to be seen or not because it's almost like someone is asking for a diagnosis. Most doctors offices don't answer many if any questions over the phone. Almost all will tell you to come in. It's called CYA, Cover Your ***.

 

[morethananyonex]

Logically I know why they're doing it, it's just such a massive pain. I just thought of it because I see advice on here all the time to call the doctors instead of asking here, but I know I would never get information that way.

I also wonder if getting paid has something to do with it here (Canada), because we're all covered anyways.

 

[mickeyboat]

Our pediatrician's office will take a message about a concern and have a nurse call you back. The nurse will usually ask the doctor if she wants to see the kid. Often times the doctor will call back and talk to me. I love my pediatrician!

 

[bigbabyblues]

Yes, they do. I usually have to leave a message then wait for a call back from the nurse, but they always call back within an hour or two. The kids' ped and my OB also both have an answering service for after hours and weekends. It works the same way, you leave a message with a person, they contact the on-call person from the office, that person calls you back. The ped has a sick clinic on the weekends, similar to an urgent care, but you have to be referred by the answering service to be seen.

 

[morethananyonex]

Our pediatrician's office will take a message about a concern and have a nurse call you back. If the nurse will usually ask the doctor if she wants to see the kid. Often times the doctor will call back and talk to me. I love my pediatrician!

Yes, they do. I usually have to leave a message then wait for a call back from the nurse, but they always call back within an hour or two. The kids' ped and my OB also both have an answering service for after hours and weekends. It works the same way, you leave a message with a person, they contact the on-call person from the office, that person calls you back. The ped has a sick clinic on the weekends, similar to an urgent care, but you have to be referred by the answering service to be seen.

Jealous of both of you!

 

[my3sonsagn]

I can call and ask for my Dr. to call me back and he will then I ask him my question (they're a small practice and pretty laid back). My kids' ped has a phone advice nurse that serves this purpose (they're a huge practice and this takes some of the load off of the doctors - esp since a lot of the questions just regard medicine safety and dosages).

 

[LuvLDM]

My pediatricians office has an option when you call to choose to speak w/ a triage nurse. You leave a message w/ details of your concern & they call you back within 20 minutes.

I really appreciate this service for those times when you're on the fence whether to take them in or not.

 

[wdwmom2]

I office I work at employ RN's that man the triage(sick call) phones. They will help you with any question you have. Some are really simple, some a little more complex. Many questions can be handled by the nurses, but sometimes the nurses have to consult with the docs or make an appointment right then and there.

Basically, they try to help people manage the simple stuff at home before coming in. But no one is ever denied a same day appointment if they don't feel comfortable with the situation and want to see a doc.

ETA: a lot of the calls are parents looking for advice, they don't necessarily need an appointment.

 

[tvguy]

My neighbor and I were just talking about this today (over the hedge).

Neither of us has a doctor that will do anything without you coming in. My neighbor thinks it's because they want that $25 co-pay, and the roughly $200 insurance pays for the visit.

 

[happygirl]

I have never had a Dr.office that didn't tell you to come in

 

[tlbwriter]

All of my doctors will respond to questions. You usually don't end up talking to the doctor, just leaving a message with the nurse and getting a call back, but still, it's great.

 

[Poohforyou]

My doctor's office is really great about handling questions etc. I occasionally will get a call back from a nurse but most of the time my doctor will call me himself. I actually find sending a fax with all the pertinent information works best.

 

[nmmom95]

My primary doc, rheumatologist and nephrologist will all answer questions over the phone. My sons' pediatrician does, as well.

 

[waltsgirl]

My Drs office is great. We can call and leave any kind of message for the Dr or simply ask that the Dr call us back and she will. This is not a small office either.

 

[kaytieeldr]

My PCP has a nurse callback service for when you just have a question or concern, or you're not sure if you need to be seen. I just used it a couple of weeks ago with flu-like symptoms and a sore throat. The nurse went over my symptoms, I told her what I was doing already, she gave me some instructions, and told me to call her back the next day (and to stay home and rest).

When I called back, she was most concerned about my throat and asked me to call back the next day if it wasn't better. It had improved by then, so I saved myself the office visit and didn't contaminate anyone else . My insurance plan has a similar Nurse 'Hotline' available 24 hours a day.

 

[disfan07]

All 7 of my current doctors personally return phone calls.

My dermatologist does emails for certain patients as well. So she and I communicate via email a lot. Its so easy because it cuts out the middle man and she always responds the same day (unless she is on vacation of course....and I don't email her while she is on vacation). She did answer emails though while on maternity leave which was fantastic because she took 4 months off.

My allergist is not in a practice, she is hospital based so she has her own assistants who take her messages and she returns the calls.

My primary returns all of my calls. I know that the nurse will answer questions as well (such as calling for test results, etc) but my doctor usually returns my calls just because of what they are about.

My pulmonologist, cardio, neurologist, and neurosurgeon all answer questions and concerns over the phone as well.

They are an amazing set of doctors. I am at school about 1 1/2 hours from my doctors so last week when I got sick I went to urgent care and they diagnosed me with strep. The doctor there gave me an antibiotic that is unsafe for me to take even after I told him that like 10 times. So I left without the prescription and called my primary. I told her that I had been diagnosed with strep and a sinus infection and she called me in a prescription without making me come in.

 

[Planogirl]

For me it depends on what the issue is. I once took a second dose of a blood pressure pill when I had a cold and was in a haze. I immediately knew what I did and called the doctor's office and they told me that I'd be OK even if I felt weird.

They will answer general questions of this type if it's a condition that they're familiar with. If it's something new they want you to come in.

 

[npmommie]

Our pediatrician's office will take a message about a concern and have a nurse call you back. The nurse will usually ask the doctor if she wants to see the kid. Often times the doctor will call back and talk to me. I love my pediatrician!

this too for our pediatrician

my pcp also does this as well for the adults in the family