Telephone reporting of the results of cardiac procedures: Feasibility and primary care physician preferences

PURPOSE: We evaluated the feasibility and time required for routine telepho ne communication with primary care physicians after cardiac procedures and surveyed primary care physicians as to their preferences for the method and content of reports of cardiac procedures. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A phone call was made within 1 day of the procedure d uring normal working hours to the primary care physician for all 414 patien ts who underwent cardiac catheterizations or interventions during a 1-year period. Subsequently, all 211 primary care physicians were mailed a questio nnaire on the effectiveness of phone calls as compared with other communica tion methods. RESULTS: The primary care physician was reached with one call for 51% of pa tients and could not be contacted with up to five calls to office, clinic, or hospital for 32% of patients. Mean (+/-SD) phone time per patient was 4. 1 (+/-2.0) minutes. Surveys were returned by 119 (56%) of 211 referring phy sicians. Telephone communication was rated as "very helpful" by 69%. Most p rimary care physicians (86%) were "very" or "a little pleased" to receive p hone calls. Survey respondents identified the summary of the results and th e recommendations for treatment as the most important parts of the report. Respondents preferred personal phone calls or fared reports to phone messag es left with office staff reports sent by electronic mail, or mailed writte n reports. CONCLUSIONS: Most primary care physicians find personal phone calls helpful and desirable, but the effectiveness of routine phone calls is limited by the availability of primary care physicians during working hours and the ti me required for phone reporting. (C)1999 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.