Should any life-threatening emergency arise (child cannot breathe, major trauma/laceration)
CALL 911 IMMEDIATELY!
Most of life’s problems are less severe, and we maintain 24 hour coverage, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in order to help you through urgent problems that are not life threatening. During business hours, just call and our nurses and schedulers will help you.
If our office is closed, please call our main number and our answering service will place you in contact with our Pediatric Triage Line where a registered nurse, trained in pediatric urgent and emergency care will consult with you. One of our providers is always on call, and if the triage nurse feels that your child requires additional attention, she will have that provider contact you. If you speak with our answering service and have not been called back within 30 minutes, please phone the office again.
Children under the age of two can have 6-10 illnesses per year. Most are self-limited and require little intervention from a doctor. However, when urgent situations and illnesses arise, you will need to contact us. These include:
- Lacerations, burns, significant bleeding or head injury (with major bleeding or unconsciousness, call 911)
- Choking (if persistent and cannot breathe, call 911)
- Convulsions with or without fever (if convulsions are non-stop and continuous, call 911)
- Difficulty breathing (not simple nasal congestion)
- Refusal to walk or use arm
- Sick newborn (fever greater than 100.5 degrees rectally, under two months of age, extreme irritability, poor feeding, extreme sleepiness)
- Severe pain
- Tender testicle or scrotum
- Sudden onset of drooling or inability to swallow
- Stiff neck or injured neck
- Dehydration (body fluids low inside of mouth dry, has not passed urine in more than eight hours)
- Fever greater than 104.5 degrees
- Possible poisoning or ingestion of toxic substances (Poison Control Center 800-362-0101)
- Any situation where the child is very different from his or her normal self
When it is necessary to call after hours, please have the following information ready for the triage nurse:
- Child’s name and date of birth
- Approximate weight
- Symptoms (i.e. fever, ear pain, vomiting, etc.)
- Fever: Measured, (not “feels warm”) and how it was measured
- Any known allergies
- What medications you have given, how much, and when
One of the hardest things parents face is seeing their children sick. It is important to stay calm on the outside even if you are panicked or scared on the inside. Many times the after-hours triage nurse will remind you that you can walk in with your sick child between 7:45 and 9 a.m. the next morning (Mondays through Fridays). If it is a true emergency, she will advise you to call 911 or to go to an emergency room immediately. Our staff will follow up with you the next day.
Our after-hours telephone is for urgent problems. Questions concerning routine appointments, services, and accounting questions should be made when the office is open. Much of that information is also posted on this website.
