Avoidable after-hours calls to physicians in family medicine
James E Rohrer1, Robert D Sheeler, Joseph W Furst
1Department of Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA. rohrer.james@mayo.edu
Quality Management in Health Care
|September 27, 2012
Summary
Nearly half of after-hours physician calls were avoidable. This study identified that avoidability varied by physician, suggesting a need for system changes and clinical consensus to improve patient care efficiency.
Area of Science:
- Medical Informatics
- Healthcare Management
- Patient Care Systems
Background:
- A new after-hours family physician call service was implemented in a large group practice.
- This service aimed to replace resident call shifts and meet patient expectations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the avoidability of after-hours telephone calls to physicians.
- To identify predictors of avoidable calls for system improvements and enhanced patient care efficiency.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of call logs from physicians on call.
- 131 completed after-hours calls were assessed for avoidability by the on-call physician.
Main Results:
- 41.9% of after-hours calls were deemed avoidable.
- Avoidability was not associated with patient age, time of day, or day of the week.
- A significant variation in call avoidability was observed among different physicians (P = .003).
Conclusions:
- The after-hours call service demonstrated a high rate of avoidable calls.
- Physician-specific factors were associated with call avoidability.
- Reducing avoidable calls requires establishing clinical consensus on call categorization and redirection strategies.
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