When you need pediatric care after office hours...
Children are not merely
small adults. There are many important medical and psychological differences between
children and adults which impact on the fundamentals of care. Pediatricians,
pediatric nurse practitioners, and pediatric subspecialists have devoted their careers
exclusively to the care of children. They have extensive training in childhood
disease and are uniquely qualified to deliver medical care to this age group.
No other kind of physician can even come
close to matching this quality of care. Therefore, while you should be able to manage most illnesses at
home without a doctor's help - when you do seek medical attention be sure the physician
you see has proper pediatric credentials. Emergency rooms and walk-in clinics (other than those at major tertiary
care centers) are generally NOT staffed by such doctors. They should be used only in extreme, life threatening
emergencies.
A pediatric provider from
our practice is "on-call"
24 hours per day, every day of
the year. We ask that you try your best to call during office hours for any
questions or problems which are not urgent in nature. During office hours, it is our
policy to offer a same-day appointment to all sick children. When you call after
hours, the pediatrician or pediatric nurse practitioner will be
paged and should call you back (usually within 30 minutes) -- you will be asked
questions designed to assess how urgent the problem is. You may then be given advice
on how to handle the situation, and asked to bring your child in on our next business
day. If it seems like something that shouldn’t wait that long, you might also
be given a time to meet the provider at our office after hours, or you might be referred
to the ER at Children’s Hospital. On weekends and holidays, please try to call early in the morning
as we usually do come in to see sick children in the late morning on these days.
If you are traveling, or if
for some reason you cannot reach us or see your regular pediatrician, seek out the ER or
walk-in clinic of a Pediatric institution or major teaching hospital such as Children's Hospital, Floating
Hospital, MGH, or North Shore Children's Hospital in Salem, Mass. This practice is only affiliated with
Children’s Hospital in Boston - our patients should always go there if unable to reach us (which shouldn’t
ever happen but, due to the imperfections of things like beepers, phones, etc. sometimes
does). This will not only ensure specialized pediatric care, but also will guarantee
that we will get contacted, that the illness will be managed by our team in a way
consistent with our medical approach and philosophies, and that we will become involved
just as soon as we become available. |
