It used to be that hospital systems relied on physicians working things out when I started on call in 1995.
An ER doctor called the physician directly, asked for an opinion, comment or help with patient care. A common decision was made and the decision would be to see the patient when he was sober sometime in the morning. At the end of my career in 2023, when I last took call, the NP or PA in the ER would send a message via “Diagnotes” to the phone expecting a call back. Often, a decision would have been made to admit the patient to the hospitalist service runs by residents or internists who would baby sit the patient until the ENT consultant could see the patient the next day or two. We would often see the patient and defer any ear work to the otologists and peri-orbital work to the oculoplastics team.
It used to be that hospital systems relied on physicians working things out when I started on call in 1995.
An ER doctor called the physician directly, asked for an opinion, comment or help with patient care. A common decision was made and the decision would be to see the patient when he was sober sometime in the morning. At the end of my career in 2023, when I last took call, the NP or PA in the ER would send a message via “Diagnotes” to the phone expecting a call back. Often, a decision would have been made to admit the patient to the hospitalist service runs by residents or internists who would baby sit the patient until the ENT consultant could see the patient the next day or two. We would often see the patient and defer any ear work to the otologists and peri-orbital work to the oculoplastics team.