So yesterday I get this email from a physician friend. . .
Subject: On Call 24/7 🙂
Some on-call text messages from my patients:
“I fell better just hearing from you”
“Good deal thanks!”
“Enjoy your family this week!”
“Well, it’s official! My husband has become a true Redneck!!!! Ayyyyye! Sorry I meant to send that to my friend!!!”
“Ok, thank you! Yay no needles for two weeks! Woohoo!!!”
Video of my patient’s pot-bellied pig 🙂
“So happy you got free!!!!”
“That’s because you’re awesome! Seriously, from both a patient and RN standpoint I can honestly say there just aren’t any doctors these days who actually take the time and care about their patients the way you do. I’m excited to be a patient at your new practice! :)”
“Thank you. Needed a little good news.”
“Thanks so much. You are a jewel”
“That is such great news! I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you so much for letting me know. I’ve been worrying about it.”
And what does my friend think of being on call 24/7/365 as a solo doc for her patients? Here’s how she ends her email: “Doctors just don’t get this kind of feedback on the treadmill (when their staff do all the communicating with the patients!) I love my patients!! I love my job!!!”
How would YOU like a doctor like that?
Meet the happiest doctor in Texas: Jennifer Zomnir, M.D.
Want an appointment?
For a good time call 972-218-0020
Are you a patient dreaming of an ideal doctor? Join the ideal medical care movement. Are you a doctor dreaming of your ideal clinic? Contact Dr. Wible for a free consultation on how you can have this much fun at work!
* * *
Pamela Wible, M.D., pioneered the first ideal medical clinic designed entirely by patients. Stop suffering and follow the health care model that works for patients and docs.
From a psychiatrist with an ideal clinic:
I send out text reminders for appts the day before that instruct “text yes to confirm and no to cancel.”
My adult patient replies. “Yes”
…which is followed by another message that says,
“I fucking love you. For reals.”
It’s great to be on my own!!!!
My previous automated reminder calls at the old place didn’t even pronounce my name right.
“Remember when you said that you would do everything possible to get me through this tough period. Can you loan me $5000 for my divorce?”
Remind me again . . .
I can definitely recommend a great divorce attorney in Oregon!
I text and get text from my patients all the time!
love this!
I never sent a text to my psychiatrist since I figured it wasn’t appropriate. But since she had obviously stopped listening, I texted her a photo of the edema I had in my feet. Apparently they were claiming I had “body dysmorphia,” and I figured a photo would clear up any doubts. In fact, I had kidney disease and they were hiding it from me for years. After that, I met many other patients who had similar experiences of coverup and deception. None of us are sure what sort of legal action we can take. But you asked about text messages and that’s the one I sent. I don’t have an actual record of it, and I’m sure she deliberately deleted it from her files after my kidney failure. Never admit fault. that before never doing harm.
As a therapist I do text my clients a reminder text about the appt. I get back responses back like… YAY!, Can’t wait! smiling faces. etc.
It is very nice to have this connection. I know they feel cared about!
Pamela, thanks for all you do 🙂
collected from a plastic surgeon friend; patient had had facial plastic surgery and texted, “Can I have vanilla Ensure instead of chocolate Ensure?” at 3 a.m.
Oh my.
Slipped in one last appointment with my primary care physician before I moved out of state.
His comment when he walked into the examination room:
I thought I had gotten rid of you.
Not a hint of humor in his voice.
When I got to new state, a doctor had me drop off my medical history and without talking to me said she would not take me as a patient because I had too many medical issues.
What does a 64 year old woman do to get help?
I guess you should send your old doctors a good text message and then check out the map of ideal clinics on my homepage: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org
Finding a good doctor is like finding a good husband or wife. You gotta go through a few that don’t work great until you find the winner! Never give up!
This blog post made me smile! Love it! I so appreciate you Dr. Wible! 🙂 Keep up the good work.
Ditto! Love you too Yvonne, you beautiful woman!!!
I admire what you are doing and am glad that you have found a practice model that works for you. I’m especially intrigued that it seems to be insurance free! I can’t wrap my brain around being on call 24/7/365 though. That sounds like pure torture. Never under any circumstances would I ever give a patient my cell phone number. For me to be happy I need boundaries. And that’s one of the biggest sources of my unhappiness is a doctor- the job intrudes too much on my life.
I’ve been on call nearly 24/7/365 x 10 years. These have been the best 10 years of my life. 10 years of call like this are easier than being on call ONE night for my prior 25-doc group at the assembly-line clinic.
Before cell phones, one Christmas, I was tied to the landline with a beeper that went off constantly (so frequently I could not keep up with all the beeps and numbers). I had a full bladder and could not even get off my chair for hours. It was insane.
Now my patients rarely call. Because they get great care and they are self-reliant. Have you heard of tragedy of the commons? It means people hoard a resource they consider scarce. Make yourself available and nobody will call. That’s been my experience.
Wow. As a primary care doctor myself, I was wondering how you handled this part of your practice. That’s fascinating how the more you make yourself available, the less patients call. It is hard to imagine. But now that I think about it, I am a patient myself, and have a lovely doctor who saved my life 6 years ago. She is always available by text and email and phone. If I need to reschedule, she does everything she can to help me out for a more convenient time, even once or twice in the last 6 years, seeing me at 7:30 am on a Saturday morning, and she has triplets at home! And you’re right! I never do end up calling her on call! 😉
It’s a phenomenon called “Tragedy of the Commons.” Human psychology. When a resource is perceived as scarce, it’s hoarded. Be accessible and make your life easy!
Text message my doctor? In order to do that, I would have to have their mobile #, which I have never had until I signed up with you as my physician, but still I would probably not text at 3 AM!
A couple of my favorites from residency: 2 am call from patient, “There’s a bad smell in my refrigerator,” me already thinking, who am I, the Maytag repairman? “Oh, and my boyfriend ate a hot dog that tasted the way the refrigerator smells…”
And this one: patient had had a LEEP a month earlier, needed to refrain from intercourse for four weeks, called wanting to know if it was okay to have sex. I asked her when the procedure was done, look up at the clock. It’s 12:05 am, four weeks and five minutes. “Go for it,” I tell her. “Thanks,” she tells me.
LOVE IT!!!
Jennifer Zomnir, M.D. Good Job Your Awesome!