Why sharing your personal number with patients isn’t a great idea and what to do instead

Colin Banas, MD, MHA, chief medical officer, iPrescribe by DrFirst.

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You’re wrapping up a consultation, and just as you head toward the door, your patient says, “Hey Doc, can I get your number — just in case?”

You might think this doesn’t happen very often, but an iPrescribe by DrFirst consumer survey found that 41% of patients report having their physician’s phone number, and 75% say they’ve used it.

Whether you give your number to patients because they asked for it or they saved it after receiving a call from you, it’s better that they don’t have it. While the intention is to help patients, it can sometimes backfire.

Privacy is a consideration, of course, but the ramifications of a patient not getting the immediate attention they need are less obvious and more concerning.

Picture this: It’s my daughter’s winter dance recital, and I’m on stage with her for a father-daughter pas de deux. One of my patients calls and leaves a message about a sudden worsening of their chronic condition. However, my phone is set to “do not disturb,” so it could be hours before I see the message. Without office staff performing triage on the symptoms, the patient could be in serious trouble. Even if the patient eventually gets to the emergency room for medical intervention, the delay could have life-threatening ramifications.

You can prevent scenarios like these by not giving out your number. Using technology integrated into your prescribing workflow that displays your office name and phone number makes the call more easily identifiable and more likely to be answered, as well as keeping your number private.

Physicians who began using an in-app dialer reported back on some of the benefits:

1. Respect the workflow. Calls to your personal number bypass your office staff, who are trained to triage calls. Besides being wildly inefficient, they can delay care in urgent situations. Calls to your office, even after hours, can trigger instructions on what to do in an emergency, such as directing patients to an on-call physician or the emergency room based on the severity of the issue.
2. Make sure calls get answered. When the phone rings and it’s an unknown number, what happens? Most people ignore it, and many phones send unidentified calls straight to voicemail. Patients may miss your call because they don’t recognize the number, and you might not answer theirs for the same reason. But when patients see the call is coming from their doctor’s office, they almost always answer. Calling patients with technology that displays your office number helps avoid missed calls and the back-and-forth of phone tag, meaning less delay in delivering care.
3. Set boundaries. It’s OK to keep your number private and guard your personal time. Burnout is very real, and being on call 24/7 takes a toll. Like flight attendants remind us during every takeoff, you need to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others. In the same way, physicians need to take care of themselves to provide the best care for their patients.
   Physician burnout costs the U.S. health care industry billions annually in lost productivity, turnover and reduced quality of care, according to numerous studies. Additionally, burnout doesn’t just impact the physician — it affects the practice as a whole, from staff morale to patient care.

While giving patients your personal phone number might be a well-meaning gesture, it’s better for both you and them to avoid it. Using a dialer that shows your office number isn’t about “hiding your number” — it’s about making sure you successfully connect with your patients and ensuring that they get the care they need when they need it.

Colin Banas, MD, MHA, is the chief medical officer at DrFirst. He is an internal medicine hospitalist and former chief medical information officer for VCU Health System in Richmond, Virginia. The company’s suite of offerings includes iPrescribe by DrFirst, a mobile electronic prescribing application that allows health care providers to write and renew prescriptions for both controlled and noncontrolled substances directly from their smartphones. Learn more at www.iprescribe.com.