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To err is human
Jul. 17th, 2009 01:46 pmand to truly screw up requires a computer, which apparently includes the iPhone.
I was on call last night. I really despise call on Thursday nights. It's my late evening in the office and I'm never done before 7 p.m. The phone calls however start at 5 PM sharp, most often people calling to find out why their prescriptions haven't been renewed. Without fail it makes my last two hours seeing patients a royal pain in the keister.
Last night a call came in from a woman concerned about her elderly husband; my receptionist took the call and shortly thereafter handed me the information. For the next three hours I called this woman every 20 to 30 minutes, a busy signal every time I called. Finally the operator tried breaking in on the line, only to confirm that the phone was indeed off the hook.
Finally finished with patients at a 7:45, I sat down to do some paperwork in no rush to head home, as I fully expected to get a call from the ER saying I was needed. At 10:30, I decided I had enough. The evening had been blissfully quiet. I reached for my phone to dial the house, but the call wouldn't go through. The screen kept flashing, "dialing number,....." with nothing happening. Then I noticed up in the corner where the AT&T icon is supposed to be, it wasn't. Only a plaintive little message that read, "searching....."
I had lost the connection to the network. That's why it had been so quiet.
I turned off the phone, then turned it back on again at which time the network came back, along with 21 voicemail messages. The ER had been looking for me for three hours. Three bloody hours. Three whole bloody hours, while I sat at my desk a block and a half away. By the time I got the message, the hospitalist for the night (who just happens to be one of my call partners) had just finished admitting the man.
It never dawned on anyone to try my back office line at that hour, and it never dawned on me to check my phone to see that it was working. Through no fault of my own I now have a major olive branch to tend my colleague.
I was on call last night. I really despise call on Thursday nights. It's my late evening in the office and I'm never done before 7 p.m. The phone calls however start at 5 PM sharp, most often people calling to find out why their prescriptions haven't been renewed. Without fail it makes my last two hours seeing patients a royal pain in the keister.
Last night a call came in from a woman concerned about her elderly husband; my receptionist took the call and shortly thereafter handed me the information. For the next three hours I called this woman every 20 to 30 minutes, a busy signal every time I called. Finally the operator tried breaking in on the line, only to confirm that the phone was indeed off the hook.
Finally finished with patients at a 7:45, I sat down to do some paperwork in no rush to head home, as I fully expected to get a call from the ER saying I was needed. At 10:30, I decided I had enough. The evening had been blissfully quiet. I reached for my phone to dial the house, but the call wouldn't go through. The screen kept flashing, "dialing number,....." with nothing happening. Then I noticed up in the corner where the AT&T icon is supposed to be, it wasn't. Only a plaintive little message that read, "searching....."
I had lost the connection to the network. That's why it had been so quiet.
I turned off the phone, then turned it back on again at which time the network came back, along with 21 voicemail messages. The ER had been looking for me for three hours. Three bloody hours. Three whole bloody hours, while I sat at my desk a block and a half away. By the time I got the message, the hospitalist for the night (who just happens to be one of my call partners) had just finished admitting the man.
It never dawned on anyone to try my back office line at that hour, and it never dawned on me to check my phone to see that it was working. Through no fault of my own I now have a major olive branch to tend my colleague.
