Dear Patients and Families: We wanted to make sure that you were all aware of our office availability, since our goal is to provide not just the best possible care to your child, but to make it convenient and keep you out of the emergency room whenever possible. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) terms this the Medical Home and it is a wonderful concept. Patients should have one place where their medical care is consolidated to ensure the best level of care. The AAP feels so strongly about this, they have recently released a statement saying that retail-based clinics (RBSs) are an inappropriate source of primary care for pediatric patients. They believe, as we do, that they fragment medical care and provide sub-standard care that is detrimental to the medical home concept. We try to provide availability during most times of need. Beyond standard office hours, we keep our Princeton office open for routine sick visits until 7pm on weekdays and we keep our Monroe and Princeton offices open on Saturdays from 8am until 1pm. To go beyond that however, we have a nurse in our office until 9pm on weekdays, 5pm on Saturdays and 1pm on Sundays and all holidays. During those times, the nurse can arrange for your child to be seen by one of our physicians urgently in the Princeton office. Once our nurse leaves, our phones are answered by the St. Peters Pediatric Phone Triage nurse who can answer your questions and put you in phone contact with our physician if need be. Though its still cold outside, summer is only a few months away and we will be opening up our summer schedule on April 1st. Summer is a popular time for older children to have their annual physicals, so please take advantage of this and schedule your childs checkup at your convenience. Remember, these annual checkups enable us to fill out camp and sports participation forms for a year. There is no need to to get a camp or sports physical at a retail-based clinic or urgent care center. They do not replace your childs annual physical and are just a duplication of service. So remember, our goal is to provide the best possible care we can for your child, which means limiting their exposures to emergency rooms, urgent cares and retail-based clinics whenever possible and having their own physician see them in their medical home. If you are unsure if your child needs to be seen, call us first. Let us help advise you on whether you need to be seen and when and where the best place is. If your school or camp sends home a form, we can fill it out as long as your child has had their annual physical within the last year. If they havent, they are due for one and we can arrange for an appointment with one of our doctors in your childs medical home. We look forward to continuing to provide your children the best care possible and truly appreciate the ability to partner in their care.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:41:56 +0000
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