Helpful Guidelines for Phone Calls & Office Visits:

Phone Calls

_Our office staff and Medical Assistants have been trained to answer most common questions. The PMG team member answering your calls will take appropriate action when you briefly explain the reason for your call.  When you are seeking advice by telephone, keep these suggestions in mind:

• Before you call, decide if you want the doctor to see your child.  If this is the case, call early in the day.
• Keep writing materials ready for noting any instructions you may receive.
• If the condition worsens or you feel that your child needs to be seen earlier than you originally thought, please call back.
• In the case of a non-life threatening emergency, call the office before going to the hospital.
  

We will make every effort to return your call promptly.

Please remember that many diseases have the same symptoms.  For this reason, most requests for treatment will require an office examination.  If you believe that medication will be required,  have the phone number of your pharmacy available.  Please call during weekday office hours for prescription refills so that we may review your child’s chart.

Office Visits

_Please arrive a few minutes before your scheduled appointment time as late arrivals can cause delays for other patients.  Also, it is very helpful to write down the questions you would like answered before arriving for your child’s appointment.

Visits are categorized as “well visits” and “sick visits”.  Both types of appointments are an important part of comprehensive medical care.  During a well-child visit, we are concerned with observing growth and development, counseling and parent education, detecting illness early through screening examinations and laboratory tests, preventing illness through immunizations, and getting to know one another.  Well-care and sick-care visits are scheduled separately.  Well-care examinations should not be performed when a child is sick.

At the completion of your visit, please be certain that your questions have been answered to your satisfaction.  It is important that you are fully informed about our findings and opinions.