Office Info: Telephone Consultation

An answering service receives our telephone calls before and after office hours. If you experience an emergency, please tell the answering service to put the call through to the doctor on-call immediately. Most medical questions will be referred to our pediatric nurse triage system, which has specific established protocols on how to manage common problems and when to call the physician. We return all calls as promptly as possible. If the call is not of an emergent nature it will be given to the nurse or physician on-call at regular intervals by the answering service.

There are many illnesses that do not require an office visit. The triage nurses in our office will handle your telephone calls during regular office hours, as the physicians must give priority to the patients in the office. The telephone triage system is a service to our patients, but is not a substitute for a physician evaluation. In fact, the nurses may recommend that the physician in certain instances see your child.

You will receive the best service from our telephone triage system if you're adequately prepared when calling with the following information: 1. Child's name and age 2. Child's weight 3. Temperature-last documented 4. Child's specific complaint or problem 5. Past medical history of significance such as drug allergies, convulsions, asthma, etc. 6. A phone number were you can be reached for at least the next hour 7. Pharmacy phone number.