Patients and cell phones

[bucknut101]

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Has anyone else noticed a disturbing trend of patients answering their cellphones while you are in the process of seeing them. I had no less then 3 people do this to me today. One lady did it twice in less than 2 minutes!
Sometimes they will answer it and say "I can't talk to you right now I'm seeing the doctor. I will call you back" Don't you think the caller could have figured out they were busy if the phone had just gone to voicemail?

The worse offenders are the ones who answer and proceed to have a full conversation. Pretending they don't notice you glaring at them the whole time.

Anybody else had this happen? Anybody else find it extremely rude?

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

Has anyone else noticed a disturbing trend of patients answering their cellphones while you are in the process of seeing them. I had no less then 3 people do this to me today. One lady did it twice in less than 2 minutes!
Sometimes they will answer it and say "I can't talk to you right now I'm seeing the doctor. I will call you back" Don't you think the caller could have figured out they were busy if the phone had just gone to voicemail?

The worse offenders are the ones who answer and proceed to have a full conversation. Pretending they don't notice you glaring at them the whole time.

Anybody else had this happen? Anybody else find it extremely rude?

This is beyond rude. Unfortunately, not everyone was raised the way you and I were -- respect people until proven otherwise.

This has happened to me before, albeit sparingly. I just leave the room if they feel their conversation is more important. Great time to check email, text message a friend back, etc. Then come back a few minutes later. "Alright, where were we (with a smile)."

 

[MAYOphtho]

This is beyond rude. Unfortunately, not everyone was raised the way you and I were -- respect people until proven otherwise.

This has happened to me before, albeit sparingly. I just leave the room if they feel their conversation is more important. Great time to check email, text message a friend back, etc. Then come back a few minutes later. "Alright, where were we (with a smile)."

You could always go ahead and slide some drops in their eyes while they're on the phone (I mean, why wait...you're busy) then kindly direct them to the dilating area and bring your next patient in...no time lost and the patient is not wasting time dilating at that point...

 

[JMK2005]

I personally don't care too much. I'm more annoyed when they just let the phone ring and ring. I usually tell them to go ahead and answer it. In the meantime, it lets me finish the charting. I've only had a few people start having a conversation. In that case, I'll just move on to the next patient and come back a little later (yes... and ask the techs to dilate them while I'm away).

 

[asmallchild]

Has anyone else noticed a disturbing trend of patients answering their cellphones while you are in the process of seeing them. I had no less then 3 people do this to me today. One lady did it twice in less than 2 minutes!
Sometimes they will answer it and say "I can't talk to you right now I'm seeing the doctor. I will call you back" Don't you think the caller could have figured out they were busy if the phone had just gone to voicemail?

The worse offenders are the ones who answer and proceed to have a full conversation. Pretending they don't notice you glaring at them the whole time.

Anybody else had this happen? Anybody else find it extremely rude?

I've noticed this happening more and more too. Granted, I'm on the inpatient side of things as an intern which simply means that the patient gets booted to the bottom of my list during pre-rounding if they don't hang up quickly.

 

[MstaKing10]

pretty annoying. I do like them to pick up and tell the caller they are at the doctors office if the get multiple calls back to back, some people don't "get the hint" when they don't pick up the phone. Overall, an annoying trend agreed.

 

[MedEye]

I bluntly tell them to "go ahead and answer that and tell them you'll call them back" instead of listening to 5 rings.

 

[jefguth]

i once had a guy answer a call on his bluetooth device while I was doing goldmann on him...I just let him talk away while my tono prism rubbed a good part of his epithelium away...🙄

 

[Abacab]

What would happen if you're seated in a restaurant and your server comes to take your order but finds you on the phone...he/she'll move on to another table and you'll be left waiting.
Does the physician's time warrant any less respect?
As a resident, I have placed a sign in my outpatient office instructing patients to "please turn off your cell phone." If I notice a patient's cell phone ringing when I am with them, I kindly ask them to go ahead and answer it but only to ask the caller to call back later. If they ignore my request and talk for more than a few seconds, I'll sternly warn them once...after that, if it recurs I will ask them to go back outside to the waiting room while I proceed to the next patient, only to return to them when it's convenient for me.
Please don't let your patients show such lack of respect for your time.

 

[JMK2005]

I'm curious how many residents/attendings have answered their phone or failed to turn their phones on vibrate while in the examination room?

 

[Meibomian SxN]

My 50y/o Px's phone rang with an R&B ringtone; she goes to turn it off and reaches inside her shirt, under her sagging breasts and turns it off!

Doesn't get any better than that! BTW: Then she reached back in her shirt to switch it to vibrate! 😱

 

[Jokestr]

I'm curious how many residents/attendings have answered their phone or failed to turn their phones on vibrate while in the examination room?

I have seen multiple doctors answer cell phones while in with patients....Now who is rude? I have also seen a patient get up and walk out on a physician after he answered a cell phone while with the patient.
That was pretty cool.

Overall I agree with the above, but I would walk away and make the patient wait for a while before I came back in...if they are still around.