I chose this piece of art or this picture because it relates to my clinical experience on my paediatrics block. Ethics talk about patient confidentiality concerning their personal information  ,having consent forms and so forth. It does not dwell on clinicians keeping their confidentiality . But on this case my patient asked for my number. Not because he was going to update me on his well being since I am his student physiotherapist. But he made it clear that he wants to keep in touch and that I should pray for him. Which took me back to the importance of religion of a patient. Because you cannot have conversations about prayer when you don’t even know what they believe and what they don’t believe in.

I was quite hesitant when he asked for my number. I thought to myself is it acceptable in regards to ethics. But another thought came to me. I have looked at this and I have found out that there are disadvantages and advantages in giving away your number to patients. But before anything, are you going to give your number to every one? If no then which patients are you going to give it to them and why them? Firstly, you can’t be there for everyone. For instance, if you were to give your number to a patient and they were to contact you after hours , the therapist shouldn’t be dispensing advice in that circumstance and if the therapist did, the patient wouldn’t want it and that is the first disadvantage. Patients are going to call you anytime and look at this, during the day you are at work and after that you want to spend time with your family. But I once overheard a conversation of a doctor and a patient. The patient asked for his doctors number and emphasized that he must not worry he won’t call him but just having a number of him comforts him.

This has stayed with me vividly since I heard that man saying that it is comfort that knowing his doctor’s cell phone number brought him. In the midst of providing care and hopefully cure our patients, surely comfort is just as important. In day hospitals some patients return when they are not getting better, others don’t and if they don’t we assume they are better. But personally I think it would be simple when you give away your number to your patients especially those who have anxiety. Enabling them to contact us directly increases our bond and promotes understanding and trust, which is professionally gratifying(Boland,P.2007).

Patients are the most underutilized resource in healthcare, and patient engagement is the key to managing chronic illness. Cell phones are particularly suited for leveraging the time and expertise of providers while engaging patients in their own self-care. To demonstrate this concept, data are presented that illustrate how cell phone applications significantly reduced the cost of treating severely asthmatic children and teens in 2 ways: through more frequent communication between patients and their medical teams, and by motivating patients to become more engaged and knowledgeable about their care(Drossman, D. A. (2010)

As a management tool, cell phones have the potential to become a standard of care in the field(Boland,P.2007). Cell phones may materially offset the cost of chronicity by helping patients avoid preventable events of care in licensed health facilities, something much more economically powerful than  attempting to reduce the costs of producing care in those settings(Boland,P.2007).

References

Boland, P. (2007). The emerging role of cell phone technology in ambulatory care. The Journal of ambulatory care management, 30(2), 126-133.

Wong, R. K., Tan, J. S., & Drossman, D. A. (2010). Here’s my phone number, don’t call me: physician accessibility in the cell phone and e-mail era. Digestive diseases and sciences, 55(3), 662-667.