After-hours telephone calls to obstetrician-gynecologists

Objective: To characterize the pattern, content, and management of after-ho urs telephone interactions between obstetrician-gynecologists and patients. Methods: In a prospective observational study, 12 resident and nine private physicians practicing obstetrics and gynecology completed data cards for a fter-hours telephone interactions with patients. Chief complaints were cate gorized as related to either women's health or primary care and on whether women were pregnant postpartum or not pregnant. Triage dispositions (evalua te now, office follow-up, or home care) were compared between groups. Women also were asked what they would have done if they had been unable to conta ct their physicians by telephone. Results: One hundred ninety-two of 276 calls evaluated (69.6%) were from pr egnant women, 20 (7.2%) were from postpartum women, and 64 (23.3%) were fro m nonpregnant women. Calls were related to primary care health issues in 24 .1% (n = 45) of pregnant women, 40% (n = 8) of postpartum women, and 28.1% (n = 18) of nonpregnant women. There were no differences between residents and private physicians in the proportion of women triaged to immediate eval uation for pregnancy (35.1% [n = 40] versus 41.9% [n = 31], P = .74) or pos tpartum (11.1% [n = 1] versus 10% [n = 1], P = .96) problems. Among 139 wom en triaged to office follow-up, 41% (n = 57) would have come to the hospita l for emergency evaluation if they had been unable to reach their physician s. Conclusion: Resident and private obstetrician-gynecologists provide primary care and women's health care advice during after-hours telephone calls fro m patients. More than one third of after-hours telephone calls from pregnan t women are triaged to immediate evaluation. (Obstet Gynecol 2000;96:459-64 . (C) 2000 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.).