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Calling Patients Benefits Them, and You, Too

By Cedric Dark, MD, MPH, FACEP | on July 24, 2019 | 2 Comments
Policy Rx
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I love picking up the phone, calling a patient, and finding out that they are feeling better in the day or two following their emergency department visit. Even when the patient doesn’t always improve as expected, it affords me an opportunity to adjust treatment, if necessary, and perhaps another emergency department visit can be averted.

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Explore This Issue
ACEP Now: Vol 38 – No 07 – July 2019

Almost all patients express gratitude that I have taken time to reach out to them—prior studies indicate it improves patient satisfaction metrics.1 The only difficulty with doing these follow-up calls is finding time to fit them into our workflow. Sure, we can come into the job 30 minutes earlier to make a few phone calls, but our employers likely won’t be paying for our time.

Fortunately, our nursing staff makes this a routine practice, calling patients the day after their emergency department visit. They check on whether prescriptions have been picked up, if follow-up has been arranged, and if the patients feel better.

A recent study, reviewed in this EMRA+PolicyRx Health Policy Journal Club article, demonstrated physician callbacks might reduce future visits among patients initially discharged from the emergency department. Patients all had private insurance coverage with an integrated delivery system. The content of the callback was designed to promote the health system’s Appointment and Advice Call Center. The call center was designed to direct patients away from future ED visits by utilizing nurses and doctors to provide telemedicine-style consults, scheduling urgent appointments, and messaging primary care physicians. Follow-up calls also directed patients to online resources to obtain medication refills and view lab results.

In an integrated health care system, these activities should easily divert unscheduled acute care from the emergency department to other appropriate venues, ultimately reducing health care costs. However, for patients without a robust primary care infrastructure and for clinicians without similar incentives, the emergency department will likely remain a major access point for care during nights, weekends, or other times when primary care remains unavailable.

Though not addressed by this study, I find it beneficial to call our patients, not for their sake but rather for our own. We will never know if someone returned unexpectedly or if a diagnosis is incorrect unless we follow up. And if we don’t, we might miss out an opportunity to hone our craft. 

Reference

  1. Guss DA, Leland H, Castillo EM. The impact of post-discharge patient call back on patient satisfaction in two academic emergency departments. J Emerg Med. 2013;44(1):236-241.

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Topics: Follow-UpPatient Communication

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About the Author

Cedric Dark, MD, MPH, FACEP

A graduate of Morehouse College, Cedric Dark, MD, MPH, FACEP earned his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. He holds a master’s degree from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. He completed his residency training at George Washington University where he served as chief resident. Currently, Dr. Dark is an associate professor at the Henry J. N. Taub Department of Emergency Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Dark is the 2017 recipient of the Texas Medical Association’s C. Frank Webber Award, a 2019 American College of Emergency Physicians Choosing Wisely Champion, the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association 2021 Joseph F. Waeckerle Alumni of the Year Award, one of emergency medicine’s Top 45 Under 45, and on Elemental’s List of 50 Experts to Trust in a Pandemic. He is currently on the Board of Directors for Doctors for America and the medical editor-in-chief for ACEP Now, the official voice of emergency medicine. .

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2 Responses to “Calling Patients Benefits Them, and You, Too”

  1. August 11, 2019

    Myles Riner MD Reply

    I started making follow-up calls many years ago, and had much the same experience and feedback. Here are some tips on how to make these calls: https://www.ficklefinger.net/2013/01/13/ed-patient-follow-up-calls/

  2. October 19, 2019

    Ashok gupta Reply

    I am training even young med students and medical residents to call for follow up on any given condition

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