Telephone Calls

If you are experiencing a true, life-threatening emergency, call 911.
For routine calls, our nurses return phone calls at the end of the day to avoid interruptions in the care of our patients. Please make sure to leave your main telephone number and alternative one.
Please use these guidelines as “when” you should make your phone call:

Call Anytime – If:

• Fever 100.5 F. degrees or greater.
• Uncontrollable nausea or diarrhea.
• Pain medication is not working.
• Chest pains or shortness of breath.
• Severe shaking or chills.
• Bleeding from the nose or gums.
• Blood in the urine.
• Black, tarry bowel movement.
• Severe diarrhea.
• Constipation with intense abdominal cramping.
• Changes in your vision or hearing.
• If you’re having nutrition problems.
• Increased bruising or pinpoint red or purple spots anywhere on the body.

  
  Call During Regular Office Hours (8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday)

• If you need a prescription refilled.
• For lab tests or scan results, (it usually take at least 48 hour)s.
• If you have questions about a new treatment.
• If you notice new numbness or tingling of fingers or toes.

  Never hesitate to let us know any problems or concerns that are important to you.

For non-emergency questions or requests (i.e. scheduling appointments or general health questions), please utilize the following schedule: Monday-Friday, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. This will allow sufficient time to review your case (if necessary) and for follow-up with your doctor. When you call, a message will be taken by a member of our front office staff and forwarded to your nurse, or you may leave a voicemail message with your nurse for non-emergency calls.
Your message should include:
- Your name and phones number (home, office and cellular)
- Your Northwest Cancer Center physician’s name
- Reason for calling
- State if your call is of an urgent nature.
All non-emergency calls will be returned at the end of the day by a member of our medical staff. Emergency calls will be returned immediately.

For after-hours emergencies:

The calls are forwarded to an answering service; but there is a medical oncology on-call for urgent problems at all times. When requesting to page the doctor on call, please provide them with the following information:
- Your name
- Telephone number (include area code)
- Your diagnosis
- Reason why you are calling
- Date of your last treatment/visit at the Center
- Pharmacy number
- Allergies
If you have not heard from your physician within 30 minutes, please call again to verify that your message was taken.