Smart Parents Don’t Bring Kids to ER for Non-Urgent Conditions

Children tend to get sick in the evenings or on the weekends as we parents all know too well. Before heading to an ER or urgent care, please speak to your primary care pediatrician on-call to get the best advice. In many cases the advice will be to bring your child for a sick visit next morning, instead of going to the ER or urgent care straight away. Emergency rooms are intended to save lives and provide care for life-threatening medical conditions. Using ER for non-urgent cases is simply wasteful: not only it wastes your own time and money, it also contributes to inefficiencies, overcrowding and adverse effects in an already taxed healthcare system. West Bloomfield Pediatrics [Continue reading…]

Not All Urgent Care Clinics Are Good for Your Child

Children can not be cared for as “small adults”. The best specialist to take care of your child’s sickness is a Pediatrician: a doctor who, upon completion of a Medical School, spent three more years at a rigorous Pediatric Residency training program, learning about caring for infants, children and adolescents. Unfortunately, very few urgent care clinics in our area have an American Board of Pediatrics-certified Pediatrician on staff. What can you do?

Have a plan. Research the local urgent care clinics well in advance and identify the one that you are comfortable with, the one that specializes in pediatric care and has certified Pediatricians on board. Before heading to an ER or urgent care, call your primary pediatrician to [Continue reading…]

When You Call the Doctor

It is stressful enough to be a parent of a healthy baby. It is many times more stressful to make decisions when your child is sick. What medicine to use, and whether to use any medicine at all? Take the child to the hospital now, or wait till morning and then call the office for an appointment? What food or liquid give to the baby? These questions must be answered promptly. That is why we pediatricians are available 24/7: just call our answering service and be connected to a doctor on call.

When to call?

We are here to help you, and do not mind at all midnight calls about urgent problems. Some examples include: fever in a baby younger than [Continue reading…]