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Paul Clay Sorum, MD, PhD; Martin A. Strosberg, MPH, PhD

JAMA. 1994;272(24):1949-1950.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

PHYSICIANS should be compensated for the time they spend talking with patients by telephone.

Probable Benefits

The telephone is very useful for patients. They can speak to the office nurse or the physician and do so frequently. From 1976 through 1978, a large percentage of patient-physician encounters were by telephone: 19% of general practitioner encounters, 18% of family practitioner encounters, 28% of pediatrician encounters, 23% of general internist encounters, 20% of obstetrician/gynecologist encounters, and 12% of general surgeon encounters.¹ Moreover, information and advice obtained by telephone are usually free.

Use of the telephone also benefits third-party payers. Contact with the nurse or physician can prevent visits to the emergency department or the physician's office. For example, the majority of after-hours callers to one family practice clinic reported that they would have gone straight to the emergency department if they had not been able to call.² The results are . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, Albany (NY) Medical College.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Albany Medical College, A-130, Albany, NY 12208 (Dr Sorum).

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