Call patients the night before or in the morning?

[tinderbox]

Hey all,

Do you normally call patients the night before or in the morning to schedule your visits? When I first started this job, a lot of people told me it was wise to call patients the night before, but many times, I find that, after 9am, my schedule has changed to the point of having to rework all my appointments. What do you guys usually do?

[kiszi, RN]

I always call pts the night before, in the order I will see them, so that if somebody refuses, has an appt. or what have you, then I move on to the next one. My schedule doesn't change much though. Sometimes I will get someone added if I had a cancellation (If I called it in ) but usually not. I find patients are much more agreeable when called the night before as well. I seem to have many "nocturnal" pts that don't appreciate being woken up at 9am.

[cathrn64]

I agree I usually call the night before. I try to ask at the beginning of the cert if the pt has any preferences (like, I have one who is in bed by 7, another who sleeps until 11 etc) so I have an idea of how to schedule them. I always tell my pt's that if I don't call the night before, I will call in the morning. That way I on weekends, if I am busy Sunday night, I can still call in the morning One caution though is try to keep yourself in a sensible pattern so your not driving all over the place.

[caliotter3]

I shadowed with a nurse who did all of her calling in the morning around 8 am. If necessary, she called at the end of her work day, around five or six. I think it is a good idea, like previously stated, to ask preferences at the start of care.

[tewdles, RN]

I started in home care calling my patients the night before....

but my agency was in the habit of dramatically changing my visits on a daily basis, so I quit that right away...too many unhappy people about no shows. By changing my visits I mean that I would get up in the morning, look at my PDA and the ENTIRE patient/visit list was different on frequent occasions. Other days it would only be 2-4 that were different...but they were never the same from 6pm to 7am next day.

[prettygirllpn]

i call my pts in the morning, after i get my route planned out in my head. some i dont call because they know when to expect me and they will call me if there is a change in their schedule. after a time, if you keep the same pts, you will get into a routine and its just old hat. until they throw a new one at you in the middle of the day that is where you have already been and you have to backtrack. It stinks when that happens!

[anticoagulationurse]

I found that calling the night before does result in wasted time due to changed schedules (by the office staff). Also, I simply choose to not work on my day off and since I have irregular days off, I would always be "working" on one day or another if I made calls the day before. Therefore, I prefer to call in the morning after 9:00 so I don't **** some people off and also, it gives the office an hour to do their panicky freak out crap and monkey around with the patients they want me to see.

The less effort I put into making my schedule just right, the less frustrated I am when it flies out the window for circumstances out of my control! So, nowadays I mostly prefer to wing it.

[davebigs]

I always call in the morning. Just works best for me. A lot can happen overnight .

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

We call the night before to confirm and if it's a pt who frequently seems to be a no-show with MV's when we arrive then we initiate calling again before leaving to head to thier home. If they dont answer or are not home then we dont go. We make it clear no-shows are not acceptable unless an emergency.