GI doctor response times...what is reasonable?

My GI usually responds within a day or so, or his nurse does. If it's a real emergency he gave me his cellphone number and I can text him and get a response within a few hours, even on weekends. I'm pretty lucky in that.

I had to hound my new GI to make the referral to the liver specialist he suggested to do....took 4 months until I called my GP to complain and request to be referred to another GI. She talked to him directly and the referral was finally sent.

You can ask your GI when you talk to him next what would be reasonable for him and what you should expect, because it's stressful for you and you feel you're then bothering him more.

How often do you see him?

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I usually hear back from the NP the same day if I call before noon and always within 24 hours. My GI doc is very popular....so very busy. The doc is very thorough and informative during an office visit so I'm guessing that leaves him little time to do much else.

My GI will always ask me to call and let the NP know how I'm doing after a specific course of treatment. If I'm not doing well the NP will discuss it with the doc and let me know the next course of action.

I've always been told to call and leave a message when I have any bleeding and he will add enema's to my current oral med (lialda). If I need anything more in depth I find it easier to make an appointment.

I would certainly look for another GI if current one did not respond when I needed help. Most of this is due to the office staff not forwarding your message, which is his responsibility too. I rarely get a direct response from my GI but always get a response from his nurse by the next day.

Once when I called I was told by staff (not by the nurse) that I had to make an office appointment to get an RX refill and I said "No way am I doing that" since I live an hour away. When I told the nurse that she said to leave her a message and she would handle it. There is now a phone tree for leaving a message directly to the doctor's nurse.

You people who have a doctors email are lucky, they must not have hundreds/thousands of patients….yet. I live in southwest Florida and the #1 hobby for retired people is doctors visits. Luckily I rarely have emergency issues.

I left my primary care doc couple years ago due to his malpractice but that is hard to do because of a shortage of primary docs. They don't actually care about losing patients, more always coming.

PS Ephis-a non-response is actually a response, meaning your GI may not agree with what you want.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 4/5/2016 6:03:51 PM (GMT-6)

If it's the beginning of the day you should hear back by the end of the day and if it's the middle of the day or later than you should hear back the next day.

Do they have some kind of email communication like my chart.
It is possible the doctor is not getting the messages.
You should tell him that you are considering leaving because you are unable to get a hold of him in a timely fashion. He may give you another way to contact him.

Mass gen is one of the best GI hospitals so maybe see if your doc would be willing to transfer you to another provider there

If you do switch Brigham has a pretty good GI that is nothing to sneeze at.

Good luck