Emergency & After Hours
After hours calls will be directed to our answering service. The answering service staff has no medical training and cannot answer your questions. Their purpose is to direct your call to the appropriate source for emergencies. When you call they will ask your name, child’s name and age, phone number and the nature of the problem. Within a short period of time you will receive a return call from one of our pediatricians.
Calls will be returned by the on-call pediatrician, or occasionally a Nurse Practitioner. For calls placed after 11pm you will be requested to take your child to the Emergency Room. The Emergency Room personnel will then contact the on-call pediatrician to discuss the problem and determine the appropriate treatment. This limitation of telephone access is for your child’s well being. It is very difficult during the light of day to ascertain over the telephone the severity of illness and the necessity for immediate versus somewhat delayed evaluation. It is even more difficult when the physician is awakened from sleep. It is far better to have an ill child assessed by examination from an alert physician than by telephone from a drowsy physician, as this is when potential problems may arise. Under such circumstances the only safe response to a concern sufficient to warrant a middle of the night call is to recommend immediate evaluation by a physician in the Emergency Room.
It is better to anticipate problems, rather than wait until concern has escalated into an emergency. Illness that has been present several days should be discussed during office hours.