Sick Child
We offer same day access for your sick or injured child. We make every effort to schedule these appointments with your primary doctor. If he/she is not available, you will be given an appointment the same day with one of our other physicians. We have separate well and sick waiting rooms to help avoid the spread of infections. Please use the alternative dedicated entrance to our office to enter the sick waiting room if your child is ill.
We have a pediatric nurse available during office hours to help provide you with medical information and schedule an appointment if your child needs to be evaluated in our office.
If your child has a longstanding (longer than 2 weeks) medical or behavioral problem, please ask for a consultation appointment so we can schedule your visit in advance with your primary care physician, who is most familiar with your child.
AFTER HOURS:
For medical problems that require immediate attention: PLEASE CALL 911.
If your child becomes ill after office hours and you need an appointment for the next day (but you do not need to speak with the on-call physician) please leave a message with the answering service. One of our nurses will call you the next day to offer you the first available appointment.
We have a physician available on call after hours 365 days per year for medical emergencies. If you require medical advice for an urgent matter after hours, please call our main office telephone number at 302-738-4800 or 302-737-3281 and leave a message with our answering service. Our physicians try to call you back in a timely manner. If you have not heard from a physician in a reasonable amount of time, please call the answering service back to confirm your message and correct telephone number.
For your convenience, we provide Saturday appointments for urgent medical visits from September to May. Please be sure to call our office by 10:00am if you need an appointment for your child to be seen that day.
In the event that your child needs to be hospitalized, our physicians have hospital privileges at Christiana Care Hospital and A.I.duPont Hospital for Children. We also communicate closely with hospital-based specialists to assist in inpatient care when necessary for you child’s care.
TELEHONE PRESCRIPTIONS:
We are often asked to prescribe medications over the phone. As long as we continue to monitor your child’s health through regular examinations, we are certainly happy to refill your child’s prescriptions for chronic medical problems during regular office hours.
In general, however, we feel we cannot provide good care to your child by prescribing medications by phone prior to examining the child first to establish an accurate diagnosis. Of course, we realize that emergencies do arise. In certain circumstance, we will prescribe a medication over the phone, but we will expect that you bring the patient in to the office as soon as possible so that we can confirm the diagnosis.