We are there for you - 24/7/365! We pride ourselves on being available, and providing sound medical advice, as well as aiming for excellent customer service! Let’s get a behind the scenes look at the doctor’s office, so you can utilize the best ways to approach different questions and concerns.
We are a group of pediatricians all working together as a team, but in general you have one “main” doctor who will see your child for all general well-child check-ups and most if not all urgent, or same day sick visits. When messaging your doctor, remember that we need to follow strict HIPPA compliancy, and not give any medical advice in any format that isn’t password protected and part of your child’s electronic medical record, so we can’t text or email about any medical concern. Calling remains a very efficient way to contact us, and we get all phone messages in our inbox as alerts in real time and become part of your child’s chart. The phone number for the practice is 929.455.2500. We have all our pediatricians here from 830-5/530 during the week and we have Saturday mornings at NYU Slope Pediatrics at 60 8th avenue between Berkeley and Union, between 9-12, to see newborns and same day sick visits.
After hours, we are on call 24/7 and the excellent pediatric nurses are the ones fielding the initial calls, and giving advice, triaging, and troubleshooting for sick children or urgent matters. We will be available for same day sick visits the next morning, or there are times where an urgent care or pediatric ED visit is needed especially if there is respiratory distress.
Normal office hours are the time to call with any medication refills or appointment requests or questions regarding ongoing pediatric issues. During the day you will have the full staff here at work, accessing your child’s medical chart, and giving thorough advice. At night, we are home with the family, and not logged into the electronic medical record system, but we are indeed available by phone if there is a medical emergency or new acute illness or accident that arises.
We cover for each other during times where a doctor may be out on vacation or starting their day later or ending earlier, so someone should always get back to you the same day, but unfortunately, not always the same hour. We are almost always in the room with a patient doing a check-up or seeing a child or baby that may be sick, so we can’t leave the room to answer a call, but we will get back to you as soon as we can. We save same-day sick visit slots so try to call earlier in the day, after 8am to make a same-day slot for an in person or video visit when appropriate. We also have an amazing Emergency Department here at NYU Cobble Hill just in case we need them.
I wouldn’t email to our general NYU email, as this isn’t answered as quickly, and NYU and the HIPPA privacy laws require all medical advice to be part of the child’s chart and in a secure server. My chart messages can attach a picture, and yet we can’t diagnose and treat by one pic – so it’s best to schedule a video visit or an in person visit so we can work together to diagnose and treat any necessary condition. Often an in person visit is best for proper physical exams, but we have been very happy with telehealth with certain conditions like rashes, or making a plan regarding how to approach the first day or two of fever or a mild illness, or dig and and explore a behavioral issue, or sleep regression.
You should sign up for my chart for your child, so that you can message a non-urgent question any time. After hours or on the weekend, my chart isn’t checked, so just call if you are worried, and someone will get back to you. My chart activation is best done while you are here, but it can be done on the phone. Once you have my chart active, you can also arrange for telehealth video visits for behavioral or developmental concerns or phone consults and schedule your next check up.
All forms can be done – for school and daycare and whatever else you need. Just tell us while you are here for the physical exam and we can generate a school or daycare form, or my chart message us and we can attach the form back in the my chart app. We usually can get back forms in a few days.
There are regularly scheduled well-child check-ups, and at times a sick visit is needed, but remember that we also welcome a follow up phone consult, or video or in person visit for any issue that is not getting better, including problems with sleep, nutrition or development. We are all honored to be part of your team, for up to 21 years!
