Paul,
Your practice sounds a lot like mine. Once I went solo I spent a great deal of time "educating" my patients about what was an emergency and what could wait until the next business day. Subsequently, the number of calls I received dropped to almost nil, save those from the hospital. Once I left the hospital, my calls are almost non-existant. Having to cover for my partners when I was in a large group was one of the most frustrating things I ever experienced. One of the docs was a fantastic person but simply did not have the guts to tell his patients their calls were inappropriate. Subsequently, the rest of us had to suffer their calls also when we covered. I distinctly remember one elderly patient who routinely called bewteen 1-2 AM with questions like "How much Coke is safe to drink at one time?" Now, I suspect she was just lonely but to let this behavior continue was simply inconsiderate to the rest of us. I finally had to be the bad gal and explain this to her. But, the silly calls stopped, much to everyone's glee.
Leslie
