Office Policies
Phone
During business hours:
If you call in with a non-urgent medical question, our receptionist will take your message and pass it along to one of our providers. Our providers usually review questions as quickly as possible but when we are busy seeing patients we often cannot answer all of the day’s questions until we are finished at the end of the day. If you have an urgent question about whether your child needs to be seen, ask the receptionist to mark your question urgent and it will be addressed sooner.
After hours:
Our phones are answered 24 hours a day including weekends and holidays. After hours, we have a telephone triage service staffed by pediatric emergency nurses who can answer most questions. In most cases, they can tell you what to do for you child until the next business day when he or she can be seen. If your child’s problem cannot wait until the next business day, they will call the provider on call who will make arrangements for your child to be seen in the Emergency Department at Medical City Hospital or at Children’s Medical Center. Please call the main office number to access the Nurse Triage Line
Our website offers information on a number of minor illnesses and problems. You might want to check the "Advice" section of the website before calling the after hours service. You can reach our after-hours service, the Nurse Advice Line from Children's Medical Center, by calling our office number 972-401-0700 (When the office is closed). This is a free service.
Appointments
Sick Child Visits:
It is our policy to see sick children on the same day that you call whenever possible. However, if you call late in the day, we may have to schedule your child for the next day or refer him or her to the Emergency Department at Medical City Hospital or Children's Medical Center. Therefore, please try to call as early in the day as possible when you know your child needs to be seen.
Well Child Visits:
It is important that children be seen for regular checkups to monitor their growth and development. When scheduling a checkup for a school-aged child, we suggest that you call well in advance if trying to have your child seen during school holidays or in the late summer as these checkup slots fill up early. For infants, even if all slots are full, we will arrange to see your baby at the appropriate age.
Children are seen for checkups at the following ages:
3 to 5 days for hospital recheck
2 weeks
1 month
2 months
4 months
6 months
9 months
12 months
15 months
18 months
2 years
30 months
Yearly after age 3
All patients are expected to make an appointment in order to be seen. "Walk-ins" will be seen whenever possible, but they will have to wait until patients with scheduled appointments have been seen.
Please try to be on time for all appointments. If you are more than 30 minutes late, you will probably be asked to reschedule. If you know you are going to be late, please call our office and let us know. We will either tell you to come on in or we will reschedule your appointment. If you are not able to come to an appointment, please let us know as early as possible.