Another source of preventable medical errors?

An article in the Washington Post today reports on a study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine which indicates that, on an annual basis, between 2 million and 5 million patients call their doctors' offices after hours or on the weekend. Answering services routinely ask these patients "'Is this an emergency?'" The study found that 90% of the calls were put through as emergencies and investigated the 10% that were not:

"...among the 10 percent whose calls were not forwarded because they said the matter was not urgent was a man with chest pain radiating down his arm, another who had trouble breathing, and a pregnant woman leaking amniotic fluid -- situations that require prompt medical attention because they could be life-threatening."

The article reports on some good strategies to assure that a clinician decides what constitutes an emergency.