How and When to Contact the Physician
If possible, during a visit to your parents you should go with them to see their PCP. Introduce yourself and let her know you are involved and interested in the care of your aging parents and welcome her contacting you with any concerns about your parents.
If this is not possible, you should send a letter to the physician introducing yourself and providing emergency contact information for you and your siblings. If you have already begun to divide the care of your parents or in-laws — dividing responsibilities for financial matters or direct care — you can include this information and encourage the PCP to contact you with any questions or concerns.
Be mindful of HIPAA regulations and privacy issues, but encourage the physician to obtain any necessary written permission from your parents to communicate with you as needed.
Inquire if the PCP welcomes or uses e-mail. Also find out if you can arrange a telephone conference with her to introduce yourself and address your concerns. There is probably going to be a fee associated with this, as there would be for an in-person appointment. Offer to pay for this up front, especially if you meet with any resistance from the reception staff.
You should also obtain the name of the PCP's nurse or back office contact. Ask if there is a preferred time of day for you to call or to expect a call to be returned by the PCP. Most physicians return these kinds of calls after office hours have ended for the day, which is usually after 5:00
When you call, it's always a good idea to ask if the physician is working and when you might expect to hear back. This way, if he is in, but perhaps very backed up with an overbooked schedule of patients, you might not hear back until after 6:00 or 7:00
If possible, provide a cell phone number where he can call you back, so that in the event you aren't at a specific landline number, he isn't wasting time trying to return your call. Physicians are very busy and they rightfully get upset if you waste their time.
Be Prepared When Contacting Physicians
Be prepared with a list of concerns or questions and get right to the point. Again, they are busy and don't have time for a lot of unnecessary conversation. For example, if you suspect your mother is suffering from depression, be prepared to provide a list of symptoms and back them up with examples. If your father is having some issues with urinary incontinence, the physician may ask you about his intake of fluids and any symptoms of urinary infection such as blood in the urine, burning, or fever. Try to be prepared, and if possible, you might have your parent available on another phone line to consult. You can also provide the physician with as much information as you can, get a list of his questions, and arrange for a time to call him back with answers.
If, for example, you're calling about an issue and hope to get a medication prescribed for your parent, you should be prepared with the phone number for the pharmacy, a list of any allergies your parent has, and know what other medications (including dose) he is taking at the present time.
One thing you definitely need to understand is that antibiotics are not effective for viruses such as colds and flu. This is true even if they are experiencing fever and have a productive cough with green mucous. The physician won't prescribe antibiotics over the telephone; you will need to arrange for your parent to be seen, or at the very least have a chest X-ray. Antibiotics have been overprescribed in the past, and now there is a serious immunity issue with certain bacteria. Therefore, physicians are often overly cautious in prescribing them.
