Telephone Calls

As you can imagine, pediatricians receive a great number of phone calls each day. Many questions and even some minor illnesses can be handled over the phone. In fact, our routine advice for many of these common concerns are outlined in the last section of this booklet, and on our website www.cwpeds.com, complete with instructions for when you should call us. However, some people will need to be evaluated in our office before a treatment plan is suggested. You will find that, as a general rule, we will not prescribe antibiotics or other medications for an acute problem solely on the basis of a phone conversation.

Our office nurses are authorized to give phone advice about the treatment of illnesses. After inquiring about the nature of your child’s problem, they will be able to offer advice for many of the common problems you will confront. In some cases, they will need to take a message and discuss the situation with one of the doctors in the office.

Whatever the method, a pediatrician reviews every medical phone message that comes to our office for consistency and accuracy. We use this method so that we can avoid interrupting our scheduled office visits while maintaining close supervision of our telephone advice system.