Taking call for the practice-what does that mean?
Genuinely curious...when someone is on call for the practice, does that mean you are simply on call for established patients who have ocular emergencies? What counts as "established"? In other words, if I saw someone for a corneal abrasion five years ago and they're now calling in the middle of the night with eye pain, is it fine to send that person to a resident staffed ED or must I see them in my practice in the middle of the night? Or what if it's someone who's never been seen at the practice before?
And...from a safety POV...what do you guys do if you do have to open the practice in the middle of the night to see a patient, with no one else there? As a resident I've been hit by patients before and admittedly am very petite and short-have also had patients hit on me even when I asked them to stop...what would one do if such a patient asked to be seen in the middle of the night? Do you have provisions to have an escort/security?