How often do you consult with another provider, and how much of your day is sending out reports which are read but never consulted about? Are most of your interactions with your colleagues positive? How often do you deal with your colleagues in other fields making unreasonable demands/telling you to rush your interpretation, or accusing you of being unskilled?
How often do you talk to other physicians, and how are your interactions?
- Thread starter odyssey2
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Providers call us all day long. Their questions range from what is the appropriate study to order to specific questions regarding a study/report.
It depends on the specialty but overall It is often a positive experience and they appreciate our consult even more than the actual report. Some very specialized providers can be particular about their needs but still mostly positive interactions.
The only issue, it can be a lot of distractions while you are trying to clean the reading list.
It depends on the specialty but overall It is often a positive experience and they appreciate our consult even more than the actual report. Some very specialized providers can be particular about their needs but still mostly positive interactions.
The only issue, it can be a lot of distractions while you are trying to clean the reading list.
Face-to-face interaction mostly happens during interdisciplinary conferences (most common is tumor boards) but we still we get occasionally get a doc coming down to ask about a scan. There are a few old school surgeons who will come down regularly to review cases face-to-face in between regular conferences. I would classify the vast majority of the face-to-face sort of interactions as positive.
Calls from other docs happen very often. Most of the time they would be neutral if not for the fact that it interrupts your workflow, so it is generally a bit of a negative.
If someone wants a STAT read just say "okay, we'll get to it soon". If the patient sounds sick or it's a request from a doc I trust I'll ask for more history and actually read the case next. The further behind you are in a list, the more common these requests get, so it's a bit of a downward spiral.
Occasionally you will have someone coming down to rudely accuse you of a miss/misinterpretation/miscommunication. The sort of docs who do this usually ****ed up and are looking for someone to blame.
Obviously if it is a true issue on our end you accept the feedback and addend the report as needed. I find that if it is a true issue, the other doc is generally pretty professional about it, understanding that that we help them catch their ****ups too. I've never seen an accusation of being unskilled lol.
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I read subspecialty neuro and get a handful of phone calls or the occasional pop-in visit when I'm at a hospital. In-person consults were much more frequent pre-Covid. On the outpatient side, I may not end up talking to a referrer at all if I'm just pounding through degen spines.
Most interactions are positive. Most of the referring clinicians are grateful you're giving your expert advice and in many cases driving their care. Some of the higher level referrers like neurosurgery, ENT and neurology are pretty good looking at imaging themselves and may catch something you missed.
Sometimes they ask for an unjustified stat read. If there's time I do it. If i've got a stack of 15 traumas on the list, well tough **** unless they come up with a better reason. It's like anything else; I don't call them and tell them how to do their job.
Being accused of being unskilled: that's a pretty bold thing which could have a lot of repercussions. That being said, never seen it. People miss stuff or mis-dictate stuff all the time. Most is pretty meaningless big picture.
Most interactions are positive. Most of the referring clinicians are grateful you're giving your expert advice and in many cases driving their care. Some of the higher level referrers like neurosurgery, ENT and neurology are pretty good looking at imaging themselves and may catch something you missed.
Sometimes they ask for an unjustified stat read. If there's time I do it. If i've got a stack of 15 traumas on the list, well tough **** unless they come up with a better reason. It's like anything else; I don't call them and tell them how to do their job.
Being accused of being unskilled: that's a pretty bold thing which could have a lot of repercussions. That being said, never seen it. People miss stuff or mis-dictate stuff all the time. Most is pretty meaningless big picture.
