Call Before You Send it My Way

There are a lot of things that get sent to us from other areas of the state to take care of. A good deal of it occurring on nights and weekends does so because some local eye doctor is not available (or more commonly doesn't want) to take care of it. But that is for another discussion entirely. There is another group of things that get sent to us because others just don't know what to do about them.

I am happy to help take care of anything that someone else may have a question about. But there are certain times when that help should more appropriately be provided over the phone. There are clearly times when the patient just needs to be sent to us - the trauma patient, the patient with the orbital abscess, etc. But here are a few that don't

The shingles patient. A patient shows up to your emergency room or your office with shingles involving the same dermatome as that involving the eye. Does this patient need an eye exam - yes. Does it need to be done three hours from home in the middle of the night - absolutely not. This has happened more than once. The patient got sent inappropriately for an eye exam in the middle of the night. Had someone taken the five minutes to call me and ask about this, the trip could have been avoided. Because, guess what? This is not an eye emergency - I could have told them to come the next day. Or better yet, see someone local after the sun came up.

The conjunctivitis patient. This can always wait until the next day. To top it off, never, EVER, send these patients by ambulance or helicopter (which has been done!!) for a viral illness we will treat with over the counter artificial tears.

Above all else, if you're sending a patient to me specifically for specialized eye care, it's common courtesy to let me know about it ahead of time.