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I'm sorry you have had bad experiences with physicians. But not every other profession has the same problems. I have been on call for 12 days in a row where

I'm sorry you have had bad experiences with physicians. But not every other profession has the same problems. I have been on call for 12 days in a row where anyone who tells my answering service they are a patient of our office can call anytime to ask any question, no matter how ridiculous, for free. Today I have returned calls to a patient who is pregnant but concerned that she does not feel enough pregnancy symptoms and someone whose temperature is 99.8 and is concerned. I am almost always in the office before my patients arrive, often as much as two hours, doing charting. I am signing forms to get people FMLA. We don't charge for filling out these forms. Do you think your lawyer would? Frequently patients are late, but then still want to be seen. So either I make the late patient angry, or everyone else behind them is angry. How many lawyers get called all night long? How many accountants are at their place of business in the middle of the night? I have a nurse to return phone calls, but it seems that hardly anyone can have a voice mail that it set up, and due to HIPAA regulations we are advised not to leave any personal messages anyway. So we pay a whole office full of people to play phone tag all day. Sometimes I am late, but sometimes people are unexpectedly trying to die. Sorry I never met this lady who has 2 liters of blood in her belly, so I didn't know she was going to come to the ER with her ectopic pregnancy today, and inconvenience you. We do try to call and reschedule, but again can't always get through.

forapurpose 8y ago
I know your frustrations, because I see the same things in IT and other professions. The difference I see is that doctors seem to think they are a special case (in this and other things) and helpless to manage these issues; the truth is that they are a common case and that there are solutions that other professionals commonly use and are expected to use. All that you describe is common for IT professionals (support and system administrators), and sometimes with just as much on the line or more (large amounts of money, careers, and sometimes even lives). I know some who have been on call for years in a row, and when they travel outside of cellular coverage they rent a satellite phone. They have no nurse to return calls; when someone calls (or a system sends an automated alert), they logon and get to work. They work all hours; all-nighters and 7 day workweeks are common. One sysadmin I know estimates one all-nighter per month. When a deadline is approaching, you can count on 100+ hour weeks. Just read HN to hear people talk about it. Their customers (users) have the same absurd requests, same demands, same communication problems, etc., though of course about different topics. For example, some send ambiguous problem reports and don't respond to attempt to clarify - but if the problem isn't fixed, money will be lost and you know who will be blamed! Their scheduling problems are the same: Unpredictable issues arise and always at the worst time. That means they have to schedule with a large margin for error. > How many lawyers get called all night long? I know many who do. First, some have clients in many time zones around the world and most have clients around the country (in the U.S., the latter means a 5am-6pm minimum workday on the west coast). More often, they are working on urgent projects and must respond ASAP to the other attorneys and clients working on the issue lest they delay everyone else or, worse, fail to contribute value and influence the outcome. As for accountants, in the U.S. ask them what tax season is like.

forapurpose 8y ago

I know your frustrations, because I see the same things in IT and other professions. The difference I see is that doctors seem to think they are a special case (in this and other things) and helpless to manage these issues; the truth is that they are a common case and that there are solutions that other professionals commonly use and are expected to use. All that you describe is common for IT professionals (support and system administrators), and sometimes with just as much on the line or more (large amounts of money, careers, and sometimes even lives). I know some who have been on call for years in a row, and when they travel outside of cellular coverage they rent a satellite phone. They have no nurse to return calls; when someone calls (or a system sends an automated alert), they logon and get to work. They work all hours; all-nighters and 7 day workweeks are common. One sysadmin I know estimates one all-nighter per month. When a deadline is approaching, you can count on 100+ hour weeks. Just read HN to hear people talk about it. Their customers (users) have the same absurd requests, same demands, same communication problems, etc., though of course about different topics. For example, some send ambiguous problem reports and don't respond to attempt to clarify - but if the problem isn't fixed, money will be lost and you know who will be blamed! Their scheduling problems are the same: Unpredictable issues arise and always at the worst time. That means they have to schedule with a large margin for error. > How many lawyers get called all night long? I know many who do. First, some have clients in many time zones around the world and most have clients around the country (in the U.S., the latter means a 5am-6pm minimum workday on the west coast). More often, they are working on urgent projects and must respond ASAP to the other attorneys and clients working on the issue lest they delay everyone else or, worse, fail to contribute value and influence the outcome. As for accountants, in the U.S. ask them what tax season is like.