Portal messages and phone calls

Hi, I always use the portal when having had a test or procedure done, I often get the results faster than the call from the doctor. I reside in Canada so perhaps there’s differences in how they use them.

Varies from practice to practice, even message to message.

I've had a response directly from the doctor within minutes, and at other times, I got a response from a PA, nurse, or even no response at all. FWIW, the times I heard directly were on weekends or after hours. Staff gone, but doctor still working.

Jim

Holly, my guy at USC sometimes responds within minutes, I never wait longer than a day. All portal messages are run though nurses first but he always reads them not sanitized versions of them.
The endocrinologist I see never looks at portal messages. Rarely, his nurse will respond. I've found that the ancient art of faxing works better than portal messaging. Some doctors are exceptional. Most are just besieged. AI has already taken over our patient visit summaries.
In the main, your doctor only looks at anything regarding your care minutes before or minutes after they enter the room.

@hollyteclaw Here's the dreaded answer - "It depends"

At my primary (large) clinical practice, by policy all portal messages are replied to in 5 days or less, depending on urgency. Several of my docs there have asked that I communicate by phone, through their staff, for quicker results, because the portal is so overloaded.

At my secondary clinic (a physician-owned multi-specialty practice) - Rheumatology, Ortho, PT & OT - each practitioner has their own protocol, and they communicate it on your first visit. My cardiologist (another practice) wants all communication via phone call to his nurse because she knows so much that she can answer nearly anything.

All very confusing! What I have done is to add a note in my "Contacts" of the preferred communication method for each doc, and the names of their key staff members.

Did you try asking your doctor what the mode they prefer?

Besieged.....excellent word to describe the current state of u.s. healthcare.

I live in NC now. My providers or their surrogates answer within a day unless it is a query about a test result. However, I am not in a rural area.
Have you spoken with the provider?

My primary care doctor usually responds same day to patient portal messages, my cardiologist responds within two days, my rheumatologist doesn't have a portal so he requires a phone call, my hematologist-oncologist usually responds within two days and my urologist is not good at responding at all. All require phone calls for urgent issues. I have a patient portal for my blood work results, so I don't need to use the doctor's portal for that.

Patientrevolution.org

@sueinmn Yes, they each have a preferred method of contact. And Staff decide what they get and when they get it. I can understand that doctors are people and like people have their preferred way of communicating.
However, there is another aspect. When a question is complex, it is better to think first, compose it and then send the message. Voice messages often get written down incorrectly. That gets into the system and can get repeated throughout the electronic system. I have had this issue. A couple of years ago I had to go to the ER to be tested. The ER person asked me if I had COPD and I said no. But she did not believe me because it was in the system from a mistake made years before. Then I had to go to the trouble of submitting the paperwork to correct it after I found the source. Technology allows us to track a lot of information, but it requires organizing the information and that is a specialized skill set