Physicians spend a lot of time counseling patients on the phone. Often, these conversations occur at night with patients we have never met before. When I am on-call in the evenings or on the weekends, these are some typical phone calls I receive from patients I have never met.
• I have a very bad stomach ache for the last hour.
• I started having rectal bleeding an hour ago.
• My wife tells me that my eyes are yellow.
• My chest is hurting. It feels