|
 1. You guys are really hard to find! Why don't you have a sign or the buildings labeled to make it easier to find? --This did not come as part of the lease agreement, but the building owner is open to considering it. We hope to be able to either have a shared sign with other tenants put out on Shelbyville Road, or at least the building numbers relocated to the ends of each building where they would be easier to see! For now, we have added very specific driving directions to the website, and all of the hedges have been trimmed so that the "Ten Thousand Park" sign shows up a bit better. In 2011, the owner did add "10000 - 10002 Shelbyville Road" right below "Ten Thousand Park", but we realize that it still is a little tricky! 2. What insurances do you accept? -- We applied to be providers for all of the major insurances, including some that we did not take at our previous office. If we do not show up on your provider list, let us know and we will see if there is a reason for such. We reserve the right to stop taking certain plans if reimbursement becomes a major issue, but hope to be able to accommodate our patients whenever possible! 3. Do you take Passport? -- Yes, and No ... We have agreed to take Passport, especially since we have former patients with this insurance that would like to continue to see us. However, as a two doctor practice, we can only maintain a certain percentage patients with this plan due to the low reimbursement and the limitations set upon us by Passport in regards to ancillary care and medications. It is really hard to provide quality care when we can't prescribe certain medications without hassle, and are limited in who we can refer patients to for specialty care. We simply aren't big enough to be able to fight with them effectively and see our patients too! We do keep a "waiting list" so that interested families can be contacted when we are able to accommodate more, and it remains our policy to allow established patients at LAP who switch to Passport from private insurance to continue as our patients, no matter what our status may be at the time. Please note, if you have Passport, you will need to get your child's immunizations at the Health Department instead of at our office. 4. What happens if my child needs to be admitted to the hospital? -- After much thought and investigation, we have decided to use the hospitalist system at Kosair Children's Hospital. This means that if your child is admitted, we will be notified and kept up to date on everything that goes on during their stay. However, we will not be coming to see your child on daily basis, since we feel better care can be provided when the doctor in charge of the case is physically in the hospital all day, and can actually be at the child's bedside when there is a major change or needs to be examined, and is available to relay test results promptly and answer questions too. We can't be in two places at once, and by using the hospitalist system we hope that we will be able to provide more "in office" time for appointments instead ... and maybe even head off some of the things that might land your child in the ER or admitted to the hospital in the first place! We know the MD's that serve as hospitalists, and are very comfortable with them. They all know that we both will want to be apprised of pretty much everything that goes on with our patients, and that is not a problem. However, we still retain our admitting privileges, so if we become unhappy with the situation we can take over ... but we really don't anticipate needing to do so! Most adult MD's have opted for this system, and one of the big factors in our comfort level with this system was Dr. Abbott's personal experience while hospitalized after her stroke ... having a doctor on site throughout the day was much more effective in getting everything done in a timely manner and they were able to address concerns as they arose, instead of just once a day on rounds. Her primary care MD was kept apprised of everything that went on, but overall it was a much better experience for all involved! -- The same does not apply at Baptist East however. We do not have admitting privileges (other than for newborns!), and thus if you opt to have your child admitted there instead, we will have no say or involvement in their care during that time. 5. For emergencies, what hospital do you recommend? -- For true emergencies (requiring you to call 911) we recommend Kosair, but, depending on the situation, the closest hospital may be the best temporary option until your child is stable and can be transferred to Kosair, if needed. Getting prompt care would be the goal, and where that is obtained doesn't matter quite as much in these cases! -- For less "emergent" situations, we would prefer you call us first and we can help determine what you need to do. However, if you think your child needs stitches, or has an obvious broken bone (not just a possible sprained ankle or jammed finger) you can go to the ER at Baptist East, Suburban, Jewish East, or Kosair (Downtown or the new Brownsboro Crossing location). All have "pediatric after hours" services and the ability to take care of these type of situations. -- For ingestions of any kind, call Poison Control FIRST! 6. What do we do if the office is closed and our child is sick ... and we aren't sure if it can wait until morning? -- First of all, if it is after 5 pm, and you feel it is an urgent problem, you can call our office and leave a message for the doctor on call. One of us will call you back directly, ideally within 20 minutes if we aren't on the line with another patient. If you don't get a call back within 40 minutes, feel free to call again and leave another message. Occasionally there will be a phone or electrical issue that causes a disruption to the message system, and we would rather get a second call than to miss it! -- However, in order to continue to provide direct access to us after hours without charging a fee or filtering all calls through an answering service, we suggest that our patients consider other resources for routine or non emergent questions when the office is not open. We provide a lot of info on our website, and medication questions are often best handled by calling your pharmacist, especially when related to dosing. Many insurance companies offer their own "nurse line" that can be used for general advice and information too ... although, if your question could wait until the office opens, we certainly would prefer that you try to call us instead! -- We do not wish to discourage anyone from calling if they are uncertain about the urgency of a problem with their child, we simply ask our patients to use common sense and not use the after hours service simply because it is convenient! For instance, if you believe your child has ringworm, but is not in any particular distress and currently asleep, then calling us at 2 AM to ask if you can apply an over the counter medication really isn't appropriate, as an immediate answer is not going to alter the course of the illness significantly. (And yes, that is an actual example of an after hours call fielded by Dr. Abbott during her residency!) -- If we feel that your child needs to be seen after 5 pm, we may suggest an immediate care center, or one of the hospital "after hours" services. However, since we realize that kids get sick on weekends too, we do have Saturday hours from 8:30 am to noon (or later depending on the season) ... but these appointments are reserved for sick visits only (no check ups!) and you need to call that morning, after 8:30 am, to get an appointment. If your child becomes acutely ill between noon on Sat and 8 am Sunday morning, please call our after hours line. If we agree that it is something that can't wait until Monday but could be taken care of by us, we often will make arrangements to meet you on Sunday morning at our office. Since it generally costs more to go to an ICC or ER, we do our best to try to accommodate when it is reasonable to do so. We also have been known to see patients after 5 pm, especially if you call and we are still on site ... so keep that in mind before you head directly to the "Little Clinic." 7. How do I determine what is "urgent" when it comes to my child being sick? -- Very tricky to answer, since any time your child is sick it is important, but not necessarily "urgent" and we don't want to discourage a parent from calling us if they are concerned! However, here are some GENERAL guidelines for you to use in determining severity of an illness and when to call. a. Fever is not always a bad thing, and the actual "degree" is not what determines seriousness. Kids tolerate fever better than adults, and the body heats up in order to fight infection ... so trying to "get rid of a fever" really doesn't fix the problem (which most often is a virus that has to run it's course anyway!) Before you panic, if your child is over 2 months old and has a fever (of whatever degree) AND is also uncomfortable, try giving a dose of Tylenol or Ibuprofen, and then see if the temperature goes down at least a fourth of a degree within 45 minutes (or the child is obviously more comfortable / able to sleep / take fluids). If so, generally you can just monitor them, and if the fever goes up after the 4-6 hour mark (when the medicine effect wears off) dose them again. Many viral illnesses include a fever spike at least once a day (or night) for up to 3 days. If your child is over 2 months, taking fluids, and has periods of moderate playfulness or activity when the fever is down, watchful waiting is usually a reasonable option. NOTE: under 6 months old, rectal temp is the most accurate and is the only acceptable way to determine if the child really has a fever. If the thermometer reads 100.4 or above rectally (don't add or subtract a degree), your child has a fever. Over aggressive treatment of fever (causing the temperature to go down too quickly) has been associated with febrile seizures, since they generally are triggered by temperature changes that are too rapid, whether it be going up or going down! Just something to keep in mind! b. Vomiting, with or without Diarrhea: Most often VIRAL in nature, but the main issue is making sure your child stays hydrated. Allow gut rest for 3-6 hours, then give sips of clear fluids or pedialyte every 20 minutes or so, as tolerated. Do NOT give medications to stop vomiting or diarrhea unless you speak with a doctor. Phenergan is no longer recommended for children under 2 at all, and only should be given to older children if they have been examined by a doctor and they choose to prescribe it. Also avoid PeptoBismol and Kayopectate. Your child won't necessarily want to eat, but they need to drink, or take in fluids of some kind, and there should be evidence of urine output at least 1-2 times in 24 hours. It may not be as much urine as normal, but it should be noted at least 1-2 times during that time period. MORE INFO CLICK HERE c. Sore Throat: consider "urgent" when associated with fever, headache, difficulty swallowing and vomiting ... and no relief is obtained with Ibuprofen or it persists throughout the day / wakes the child at night. 8. Do you give allergy shots at your office? --Yes, but the actual serum still must come from the allergist. Anyone opting to get these shots at our office are required to wait a minimum of 20 minutes before leaving and have one of the staff document any reaction (or the lack of one!) each time. If your allergist indicates a need to wait longer than 20 minutes, we will abide by their recommendations. This policy is to insure that any immediate / life threatening allergic reaction to the injection can be dealt with on the premises ... unfortunately, even if your child has never reacted in a negative fashion, there is always the possibility that it will happen, so better safe than sorry! 9. Are you open during lunch hours? -- Our intent is to have someone available through the lunch hour so that parents can pick up prescriptions or forms ... but we also may schedule appointments during this time, depending on the situation. If we have a staff meeting from noon to 1 pm, there is a bell to ring outside the front desk windows to use to get the attention of a staff member. 10. Do you plan to add a male physician to the practice? -- We have always planned to add a third physician, and if we find a male MD who fits the bill, we definitely would consider doing so. When we started this practice, we were not certain if our older male patients would transfer with us because we did not have a male physician on staff, but were pleasantly surprised to find that the majority did. When asked, most indicated that when they were sick, they generally sought care from their mom, so it didn't seem "weird" to them to have a female physician. Of course, we do encourage parents to let their children (male and female) know that we will examine all of their "parts" at a well check up, but we do try to minimize their discomfort by providing gowns, or allowing them to wear loose t-shirts and shorts instead. As they get older, the option to have a family member present during any physical exam is always available ... although sometimes with the added stipulation from the child for the parent to "not look" or keep their eyes closed! 
|
|