Can't get a hold of Dr.!

[txdon]

Recently there was a resident w/a bs of 489. The agency nurse called the dr. but never received a call back. The sliding scale calls for give x amt of insulin and notify dr. The nurse called the DON and she told her to keep trying to reach the dr., recheck bs q 15 mins and document. Needless to say the dr. called back 4 hours later. He said he didn't realize he was on call. Has anyone had this similiar experience, and if so what steps were taken?

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

I've had situations where I couldn't reach the primary doc/ answering service was called and he was on call himself. Tried the medical director and that doc had a doc on call for her...called that number and a doc was taking calls for that dod. SRSLY???? Ended up finding a home phone or maybe private cell phone for the first doc and calling him (it was in an old unused rolladex)

This person was getting ready to get sent to the hospital for a stupid reason too. (upping the pain meds)

[MomOfTwoAngels]

Document, document, document...... including that doc did now know they were on call.

Exactly, as my DON would say "if you didnt chart it, then it never happened"

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Our medical director takes about a half hour to call back. Sometimes an hour or two. If this was an urgent issue and he was taking his sour(not sweet) time, I would notify the nursing supervisor who would then call the administrator on call(either DON or ADON for example) and give us further instructions.

Fortunately most of our residents have a physician who has an on-call physician covering for her on the weekend. They are really great with us calling back quickly or even answering the phone when we call.

Unless your administrator or DON is a Nurse Practitioner or PA, what do you expect them to do? If the resident is very ill and the doctor doesn't call back, send them to the ER. If it's an abnormal lab or some other minor thing, then just document you called and are awaiting a call back.