Have you ever wanted a user’s manual for your child? We thought this new manual would be a good start in helping you navigate through some of the possible issues that can arise during the childhood years.

One of the hardest decisions for most parents is deciding when to call the doctor’s office about your child. Taking parents’ phone calls from home after hours can be difficult and challenging for physicians and nurses as well. We hope this manual will make the decision of when to call a little easier. It contains information about some of the most commonly occurring phone call topics. Please familiarize yourself with the entire contents of the manual, especially the section with medication dosages for Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Each section suggests when to call after hours for a medical emergency vs. when to call the office during regular office hours. Online information is also available at websites offered by the American Academy of Pediatrics and their informational site, healthychildren.org.”

Much of the information contained in this publication comes from Dr. Bart Schmitt’s book, “Your Child’s Health,” which is available from any local or internet bookstore. Although the Rochester community is fortunate to have access to “after hours” care clinics, during the day we suggest you utilize Legacy Pediatrics triage nurses to assist with your child’s routine questions, issues and medical needs, as they know your child and have access to their records. Emergent issues after regular office hours can be directed to local “after hours” care clinics, which are located throughout Rochester. As a cost-saving measure to our patients, we encourage parents/guardians to use the enclosed information to reduce unnecessary telephone calls during after hours, which could lead to increased financial burdens to our practice.

We hope you find this user’s manual helpful with the care of your child. We look forward to developing our relationship with your family.

UpToDate

UpToDate is an amazing resource that is used by hundreds of thousands of doctors and midlevels across the nation for their up to date medical information.  They have a great patient information section on that website.