Dr. Smith was at her wit's end. She was sitting at her desk, staring at the screen of her computer, which was flashing with notifications of new e-consults. She had already seen over 50 e-consults that day, and it was only lunchtime. Dr. Smith knew that she had to do something. She couldn't keep up with this pace. She was starting to make mistakes, and she was worried that her patients were suffering. She decided to ration e-consults. It was a controversial decision, but she felt that it was necessary. She knew that some of her patients would be upset, but she hoped that they would understand. Dr. Smith sent out an email to all of her patients explaining the new policy. She explained that each patient would be allowed one e-consult per month. If they needed to send more than one e-consult in a month, they would have to queue up on the phone for 30 minutes.
Dr. Smith knew that this policy would not be popular with all of her patients. But she was determined to do what she thought was best for her patients and for herself.