Many physicians get around this by having extra telephone lines, so parents can always get through. Of course, the big problem with availability comes during nights, weekends, and holidays. We recently did a study of after-hours availability in four major Canadian cities. When the message said that the office was closed and the patient should be taken to the nearest emergency room or walk-in clinic, we counted the physician as not available after hours. We found quite a difference in the four cities.
Physician availability gives parents a sense of security, and it's also important for other reasons.
This not only saves money for the health-care system, but also spares the family a lot of trouble and lost time. No parent can expect a physician to be on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Years ago many physicians did practice this way, making housecalls, creating a special bond of caring between themselves and the families they served. Although they didn't have many effective treatments to offer, they demonstrated a helping mission that was in itself often therapeutic. Nowadays doctors have many effective treatments to offer, but until fairly recently medical schools concentrated on the curing, not the caring, aspects of being a doctor.