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Home Health & Hospice Week

Policies & Procedures:

Use These Doc Communication Boosters

Published on Wed Jun 08, 2011

Put an end to phone tag. Already using an SBAR tool to plan your communication with physicians? You may still be able to make improvements. Pat Jump with Rice Lake, Wis.-based Acorn's End Training & Consulting offers these guidelines: Keep communication brief but informative. Physicians don't want to read a novel, they want the bottom line. Make your request of the physician specific. For example, you could write, "Please call me to verify the Lasix dosage." Make it easy for the physician to contact you. Telephone tag is very time-consuming and frustrating. Leaving your cell phone number for the physician's return call is one way to head off this problem. If you don't have a cell phone, give the physician the best time of the day to reach you. For example, you could leave the message that you will be at a particular number from noon to 1 p.m. and [...]
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