"Did someone call me?"

[Feral.Cat.Herder, RN]

Daily I hear the secretary tell parents "When someone from this school calls out from any extension the main number will show on the caller ID, I have no idea who or from what extension the phone call was made from. Did they leave a voicemail?" The answer they give "well yes I have a VM but I haven't listened to it yet"

SMH... perhaps if you would listen to your voicemail BEFORE calling the school you would know WHO called you.

Does this happen to anyone else?

[kidzcare]

YES! Everyone assumes it's the nurse who called and calls back in a panic without listening to the voicemail. C'mon now.

[Bulldogs, CNA, EMT-B]

Every day all day long.!!!! I usually get oh did you call this parent ummmmm no I didn't.

[Glitternurse, LVN]

Yep, everyday. I have gotten into the habit of letting the secretaries know when and who I've called so when the parent calls back they know to transfer it to me.

To be fair my husband does the same thing when I call him. He just calls back without listening to the voicemail.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

It may be a generational thing...I rarely pick up a phone call where I don't know the number but if you're leaving me a message I assume you need me.

My favorite is a variant called "someone called me yesterday."

[AdobeRN]

yes! drives me nuts - I always leave a message.

I love it when I tell them I didn't call then the parent asks "well do you know who did?" ?

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

All day long. It's especially bad when a callout is placed in the middle of the day. Ug!

[jnemartin, BSN, RN]

YES! I get this all the time. Often the front desk just forwards the call to me and I have no idea who called the parent. That's super frustrating because I can't forward calls from my office so I have to say, "sorry, you'll have to call back to the front desk and ask again" lol

I ALWAYS LEAVE A VM. ALWAYS. Because I learned quickly that parents FLIP OUT getting a missed call from the school. Even if it's just to say that I received a form they sent or something totally innocuous.

All.the.time

[Feral.Cat.Herder, RN]

18 hours ago, jnemartin said:

YES! I get this all the time. Often the front desk just forwards the call to me and I have no idea who called the parent. That's super frustrating because I can't forward calls from my office so I have to say, "sorry, you'll have to call back to the front desk and ask again" lol

I ALWAYS LEAVE A VM. ALWAYS. Because I learned quickly that parents FLIP OUT getting a missed call from the school. Even if it's just to say that I received a form they sent or something totally innocuous.

I cannot transfer either and I, too, always leave a VM if one is available. Parents sometimes get frustrated that they have to call back to front office because I cannot transfer calls from the clinic phone. I will ask "was a voice mail left?" If they answer yes I suggest they listen to it and perhaps it will direct them to the person that left the VM. Sometimes the parents seem like that is such a novice idea. ?

[jnemartin, BSN, RN]

4 hours ago, Feral.Cat.Herder said:

I cannot transfer either and I, too, always leave a VM if one is available. Parents sometimes get frustrated that they have to call back to front office because I cannot transfer calls from the clinic phone. I will ask "was a voice mail left?" If they answer yes I suggest they listen to it and perhaps it will direct them to the person that left the VM. Sometimes the parents seem like that is such a novice idea. ?

Last year was my first year as a SN and I learned within the first week of school to ALWAYS LEAVE A VM haha! I am not a phone person and much prefer email, but in this role there is no escaping it and I had to adjust.