Policies

• Phone Calls
• Walk-in Visits
• Appointments
• Weekends
• Vaccinations
• After Hours Calls
• Reasons to call us immediately day or night
• Non-emergency cases for office hours
• Emergencies
• Medicaion Refills
• Contacting a Provider

Phone Calls Whether you are calling for routine advice during office hours or for an emergency at night, please keep a few suggestions in mind:

• Be sure your phone is on, charged, and can receive restricted phone calls.
• Have a voicemail set up that is not full.
• Have a pen, paper, and pharmacy number handy. Make sure the pharmacy you give us is not closed.
• Make a specific list of your child's symptoms. It is more helpful to say "he has fever of 102 by rectal thermometer" than "he is burning up."
• Write down all of your questions.
• Mention relevant medical history, drug reactions, and current medications.
• Have your child's approximate weight.

Walk-in Visits:
We know children get sick after hours. If you've been up with a sick child all night, we expect and encourage you to bring them in at 8:30am Monday through Friday. Our walk-in hours are weekdays from 8:30am to 9:00am. Walk-in hours are for sick or urgent children who are already current patients.

Appointments:
We begin well and sick appointments at 9:00am and close at 5:00pm. We close for lunch from 12:00am-1:00pm.

Weekends:
Please call between 8:30 and 9:00 on Saturday mornings if you have a sick child that needs to be seen. We usually have a physician in the office on Saturday, but times will vary. Most Saturdays we are finished by 11:00 or 12:00. We are closed on Sundays.

Vaccinations:
We all strongly believe that vaccines save lives, and we are proponents of preventative medicine. Therefore, all of our patients are vaccinated. If interested, we do offer a modified vaccine schedule which requires more visits but fewer vaccinations at each visit.

After Hour Calls:
We always have a physician on call in the evenings and on weekends. After hours calls are for emergencies only. Should you need to contact us after hours about an emergency, you may speak directly with the physician on call. Our answering service number is 423.493.6475

We do use a well-trained pediatric nurse triage service from 9:00 PM until 6:00 AM. They are well-equipped to answer emergency questions. If there are additional concerns, the triage service can contact the provider on call for further instructions. You will most likely receive a return phone call quickly. However, if you have not heard back from us within one hour, please call again. We may not have received the page, or the wrong number may have been sent. Please be sure your voicemail is set up and is not full. Please be sure your phone can receive phone calls from restricted numbers before calling us.

Reasons to alling us immediately day or nights:

• Croup, shortness of breath, wheezing with an increased respiratory rate
• Fever over 104 not responding to Tylenol, Advil, or lukewarm baths
• Fever of 100.4 or more rectally in an infant less than 3 months old (unless we have told you expect fever after vaccinations)
• Severe injuries that need emergent evaluation
• Severe abdominal pain
• Unrelenting vomiting or diarrhea
• Seizures
• Any ill-appearing child with decreased responsiveness

Examples of non-emergencies which should be handled during regular office hours:
This list is not all-inclusive, but it does serve as a guideline.
Please consult these guidelines and review our suggestions for common illnesses before you call.

• Scabies, lice, poison ivy
• Refills on prescriptions unless they are desperately needed such as for an asthma attack. Plan ahead if your child has a long term prescription need
• Colic, feeding questions, diaper rash, crying
• Low grade fever without other symptoms in children older than three months
• Social problems, school problems, divorce arguments, depression, potty training
• Minor lacerations

Emergencies
If you have an emergency and cannot wait for a doctor to return your call, go to the Emergency Room. T. C. Thompson Children's Hospital. When time permits, call our answering service at 423.493.6475 and let them know your child's name, the nature of the emergency, and the name of the hospital. Our answering service is usually able to patch you directly to the doctor on call if you identify the situation as an emergency. If you are able to safely wait, call the answering service and let them know the above information, as this will allow your doctor to follow through on your child's care as soon as he or she is contacted.

Medication Refills
Please call first thing in the morning Monday through Friday for routine prescriptions and we will be glad to help. Please allow until the end of the day for medications to be sent to the pharmacy. We process refill requests throughout the work day, but sometimes the days are long, and we are still processing these after hours. Lotrimin over the counter works great for diaper rash and Reese's makes a good over the counter pinworm medication with doses based on weight.

Contacting the Providers at Spring Creek Pediatrics
Our practice strives to provide comprehensive and compassionate care for our patients. Clear communication and continuity of care is key to that goal This is best achieved by contacting the providers at Spring Creek Pediatrics through proper channels. Additionally, communicating through proper channels helps us best ensure patient privacy.

• During office hours, please contact us through the office number 423.892.3400. A message can be taken, and your call will be returned on the same day.
• After hours, please contact the provider on call by calling the answering service at 423.493.6475. Our answering service contacts us directly using a secure method. This ensures that your information stays private. Contacting us through the answering service also ensures that we can follow the paper trail and properly document your concerns. This is essential for continuity in care.
• It is best to use the answering service to contact us after hours to be sure you are reaching the provider on call. This provider will be in the best position to respond quickly and effectively to your concerns.
• Please do not use messaging apps or text messaging to contact us as these methods are not secure. We do not have third party agreements with anyone other than our answering service, so a message through social media may be accessible to entities that do not need to have your personal information. Also, it is difficult to ensure that this type of communication is reflected in the patient's chart. Again, this is essential for continuity of care.
• Please contact us during office hours for non-emergent concerns.