Patients wanting your cell phone number

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As a rotating student, have you ever been asked by a patient for your personal cell phone number? And, how do you react to that?

This happened to me a few times already, and I've always declined but I couldn't come up with a decent excuse other than "I'm just a student and not qualified to give you definitive medical advice" or "I'm just rotating here and I'll be off this service in a couple weeks". I usually tell them afterwards to call the office phone or the hospital main line if they need anything.

The patient always tries to make me feel bad later saying, "I always get the machine when I call. You're the only one that really listens. etc..."

I'm just wondering how to better handle situations like this. I know once we graduate with our MDs, I can't really use the "I'm just a student, cannot give advice" line. But, I don't want to be taking calls from patients at any time of day when I might be studying and doing other stuff. What would you do?

I politely tell patients that my cell phone is for personal use only, and that I do not give it out to patients. End of story.

You can always get a 'google #' and give them that #. you can screen your calls before you answer because the person has to say their name before you answer the call.

Originally Posted by qmcat

As a rotating student, have you ever been asked by a patient for your personal cell phone number? And, how do you react to that?

This happened to me a few times already, and I've always declined but I couldn't come up with a decent excuse other than "I'm just a student and not qualified to give you definitive medical advice" or "I'm just rotating here and I'll be off this service in a couple weeks". I usually tell them afterwards to call the office phone or the hospital main line if they need anything.

The patient always tries to make me feel bad later saying, "I always get the machine when I call. You're the only one that really listens. etc..."

I'm just wondering how to better handle situations like this. I know once we graduate with our MDs, I can't really use the "I'm just a student, cannot give advice" line. But, I don't want to be taking calls from patients at any time of day when I might be studying and doing other stuff. What would you do?

give them your pager number

Originally Posted by partydoc

give them your pager number

Good god no.

Originally Posted by DrBowtie

Good god no.

better than a cell phone, even if its one of those gmail thingys

Originally Posted by partydoc

better than a cell phone, even if its one of those gmail thingys

Don't give them anything. If they have a problem, they need to talk to their nurse who can then assess and contact MD if necessary.

You're in for a world of hurt if you are giving out your pager # to patients.

Originally Posted by DrBowtie

Don't give them anything. If they have a problem, they need to talk to their nurse who can then assess and contact MD if necessary.

You're in for a world of hurt if you are giving out your pager # to patients.

Amen to that.. U need to set limits. Protect your pager and cell phone number like its your social security number!

Originally Posted by qmcat

As a rotating student, have you ever been asked by a patient for your personal cell phone number? And, how do you react to that?

I only give it out if she's really hot.

Never give our your cell phone, pager, address, email, etc.

Most psychologically normal people will not ask for your cell phone/email because they realize that its an invasion of privacy. Therefore by giving this information out, you can expect to be harassed by these needy patients.

You make some empathic statement about how you understand their frustration and tell them that your cell number is for personal use only.

One of the programs I rotated through gave each resident a voicemail inbox they could give the number to. Is this common?

Originally Posted by Bacchus

One of the programs I rotated through gave each resident a voicemail inbox they could give the number to. Is this common?

No.

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Seriously, protect your personal contact info. Otherwise you will have 3 am phone calls from needy patients who want medication renewals or have "fevers" of 99.5 and are worried.

Also, remember to *67 (block caller ID) before calling a patient with your own cell phone. One of my partners forgot to do this with a patient and then started receiving texts when on vacation from the patient, which brought up all sorts of medicolegal questions as to if she was obligated to act upon the information texted to her when 1000s of miles away. Plus having to deal with the patient just calling her at random.

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me, maybe?

Originally Posted by Smurfette

No.

-----------------

Seriously, protect your personal contact info. Otherwise you will have 3 am phone calls from needy patients who want medication renewals or have "fevers" of 99.5 and are worried.

Also, remember to *67 (block caller ID) before calling a patient with your own cell phone. One of my partners forgot to do this with a patient and then started receiving texts when on vacation from the patient, which brought up all sorts of medicolegal questions as to if she was obligated to act upon the information texted to her when 1000s of miles away. Plus having to deal with the patient just calling her at random.

The good old *67. My personal PCP who has mentored me through a lot of this process (shadowing, a rotation, career guidance) still *67's me when calling me despite a first name basis and frequent e-mails. E-mail, actually, is the only way to contact unless I stop at the office, which has been promoted more than once. I don't think I'll ever get that cell number. Can't think what else I'd have to do, haha.

Classic USMLE question.

Originally Posted by Winged Scapula

Most psychologically normal people will not ask for your cell phone/email because they realize that its an invasion of privacy. Therefore by giving this information out, you can expect to be harassed by these needy patients.

This is an important point. The people who ask are by nature the people most likely to abuse having your personal contact information.

I always use *67 when needing to dial long-distance numbers in the hospital. Much faster than waiting for the operator to connect me.

Originally Posted by Winged Scapula

Most psychologically normal people will not ask for your cell phone/email because they realize that its an invasion of privacy. Therefore by giving this information out, you can expect to be harassed by these needy patients.

You make some empathic statement about how you understand their frustration and tell them that your cell number is for personal use only.

Best post of the thread. Even if you don't mind being bothered by patients during your time off (one of my therapy patients with poor boundaries once managed to find my personal pager number and paged me during a post-call nap even though she had been told to use the EMERGENCY PAGER for anything that couldn't wait), I'm concerned about the possible legal risks of telling a patient they can use your number instead of the standard answering service or whatever other procedure is in place to deal with patient issues afterhours. What if they had an emergency, tried to call or page you, and you didn't see it before a bad outcome occurred?

Originally Posted by qmcat

As a rotating student, have you ever been asked by a patient for your personal cell phone number? And, how do you react to that?

This happened to me a few times already, and I've always declined but I couldn't come up with a decent excuse "

First, are you a hot female? If you are, then them asking you for your phone number has nothing to do with medicine.

I tell patients that they are to call the office and will get the answering service if the office is closed.

I have my GP's private cell phone number.

She gave it to me unasked a few years ago. I've never called it b/c I haven't had a call so urgent that I couldn't go through her office.

Originally Posted by Oxer45

First, are you a hot female? If you are, then them asking you for your phone number has nothing to do with medicine.

My first thought.

I've never been asked for my number, and now I'm starting to feel left out...

Tell them verizon has decided to change your plan structure for the 3rd time this month and you only get 10 min talk time and 4 mb of data now (despite paying +$90)...and your circle is full!

When I first saw the title of this thread I misread it as "parents wanting your cell phone number" and was a bit confused.

I agree that it is generally a bad idea. However, I have given my cell phone number to one patient... but only because she is an attending in a field that I am interested in and she offered to chat with me about her field once she is all recovered. I would laugh really hard if she called me with any patient type questions.

It's not uncommon for some patients to end up with the "Cell Phone" number for their doctor, especially when they are not crazy, and actually have some rare/interesting/complicated disease.

I know that some docs give out their "cell phone" numbers to patients to increase patient satisfaction scores, however this is NEVER their actually personal cell phone number.

Don't give anyone your real number. Nothing good can come of it.

Originally Posted by winkleweizen

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me, maybe?

God, that song's everywhere.

I would set my facebook to private also, some people stop at nothing.

Originally Posted by Gamechanger

I would set my facebook to private also, some people stop at nothing.

I received a FB message from a patient's daughter once. I nearly **** my pants. And then immediately hunkered down my privacy settings even more than I "thought" they were.