Sometimes simple is the best. I recently tried a new smartphone app – Doximity Dialer – that is just that. I have been so struck by it that I have started showing it off to people at any opportunity. It is incredibly simple to use (from download to using it in <5 minutes) and solves a straightforward, but common problem. It is 8pm and you’re at home working on messages in your EHR. You need to call your patient back about a lab test result. Enter this conundrum… You can either use *67 to block your caller ID in which case the patient will think it is a telemarketer calling and not answer. Or you can leave your caller ID on, in which case the patient now has your cel phone number. While some physicians have become comfortable with their patients having their cel phone numbers, many still have not.
Doximity Dialer allows you to “trick” Caller ID into showing a phone number of your choice, e.g. your office number, to the call recipient. This means that you can make calls to patients from your cel phone, but the patient sees your office number on Caller ID. Now, they recognize the number as their doctor and will answer the phone, and doctors do not have to feel squeamish that a patient will have their personal cell phone number.
Win-win. Simple.