Policies & Forms
Appointments
We provide evening hours for our patients during the school year, from September 1st through May 31st. Evening and weekend care is reserved for children who become acutely ill during the day, and who can not wait until the following day for care. One of our physicians is available through our answering service 24 hours a day, seven days a week for emergency calls.
Patients are seen by appointment. A child who has a medical emergency will be seen on an immediate basis. If you need to have a second child in the family seen at the time of an appointment, please notify the secretary of this as soon as possible.
Telephone Calls
Telephone calls are initially handled by your doctor's secretary. Our secretaries are experienced in determining from a description of a child's symptoms whether the child needs to be seen, or whether the problem can be treated over the telephone. The secretaries can answer some questions regarding your child's health. More complicated questions may be referred to your doctor's nurse who will return your call as soon as time permits. Emergency situations will be referred to a physician immediately.
If you wish to consult your physician by telephone, please leave a number where you can be reached during office hours, as well as later in the day. Your doctor is busy seeing patients during office hours, and often returns phone calls over the lunch hour or at the end of the business day.
Prescriptions & Referrals
If you are requesting a prescription refill, please have the name of the medication, the dose and amount of the medication needed, and the name and telephone number of your pharmacy. Refills for some medications may require a visit with the physician first, and you will be informed of this by the secretary. If your child requires a referral to a specialist, please have the name and telephone of the specialist available when you call. If you are requesting a referral to a specialist for a condition which your pediatrician has not seen and/or treated, you may be asked to arrange an appointment with your pediatrician first.
Hospital and ER Visits
Your doctor admits patients to the University of Rochester Medical Center (Strong Memorial Hospital). He/she sees newborn infants at other hospitals, but we maintain admitting privileges only at Strong. Please call your doctor first for any non-life threatening emergencies prior to going to the emergency room. Many urgent matters such as stitches, injuries and illnesses can be taken care of at the office. Never use the emergency room for minor illnesses.Labs and X-rays
Onsite at Westside Pediatrics a basic lab is maintained where complete blood counts, hemoglobins, monospot tests, throat cultures, urine cultures, urinalysis, and other simple lab tests are performed. Any additional bloodwork required for a given circumstance can be done at the ACM lab located next door at 499 Beahan Rd, or you may be referred to additional lab sites.
X-rays required Monday-Friday during regular business hours are done at Westside Radiology at 1160 Chili Ave, approximately 1 mile from the office. The x-rays are read immediately by the radiologist on site and the report is called to your physician who then designates the next step in care, as needed. After hours, or on weekends, you may be referred to the emergency room or orthopedic care sites as directed by the physician for emergent situations.