Consultant and discuss the case either in person or by telephone, communicate by secure text, or initiate consult by preapproved protocols as determined by the Department / Section. Staff may be asked to electronically enter a requesting Member’ s verbal order and call the consultant’ s office or answering service, but the requesting Member retains the responsibility for personally conveying the following information to the Consultant:
i. the clinical condition of the patient and the problems to be addressed by the consultation;
ii. the expected level of involvement of the consultant; iii. the urgency of the consultation.
2. The Attending Member will remain fully responsible for the patient until the Consultant is personally contacted and agrees to accept specific responsibilities for the patient’ s care. The involvement of Consultants and their specific responsibilities will be clearly communicated to Hospital staff by the Attending Member.
3. Unless another time period is mutually agreed upon by the requesting Member and the Consultant( such an agreement should be documented in the medical record by the requesting Member), the Consultant will interview and examine the patient and produce a consultation report preferably the same day but no later than 24-hours following the case discussion and verbal request from the requesting Member for nonurgent / non-emergent care. Or, if prudent for patient care, the Consultant shall examine the patient within six( 6) hours, or sooner as requested, of the case discussion and verbal request from the requesting Member for an urgent / emergent consultation.
4. Consultation reports must be directly entered into the electronic medical record in a timely manner to ensure continuity of care. Hand-written and scanned documents will not be allowed( electronic“ down-time” procedures excepted).
5. Consultants will make rounds and update progress notes depending on the clinical necessity. Clinical necessity will be determined in conjunction with the primary team. Any recommended orders, not placed by the consultant, will be communicated to the primary team in a timely fashion. Consultants may be asked to help place urgent orders when necessary to avoid a delay in care and may be asked to help arrange follow-up with their own practice, if appropriate.
If there is disagreement between the primary team and consultant regarding the degree of involvement, it is expected that the consultant will continue to
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