I am extremely lucky in that I can either text or call my pedi. If I call, he often is the one to answer the phone. If he's not available, I can opt to leave a message or call his urgent line (cell). I often text if it's not an urgent question.
I talk to the nurse when I call. But if it isn't something she can answer easily or if I want to speak to the pedi, the pedi calls me back. She is also awesome at answering emails (responds within 24 hours). This is reason 428 why I love our pedi's office. I realize it's not the norm.
Yeah I guess I'm just frustrated bc with all the back and forth a completely different nurse calls me and was like OK so WHATS GOING ON and I'm like seriously I have to start from the beginning? Plus our pedi referred us to a GI that I can't see till one month from now and I'm like soooo in the meantime we should......??
You might ask if the nurses desk has a direct line, which can cut out one step. Are you very far from the GI they referred you to? If you are not too far, you might try calling the GI office daily and seeing if they have any cancelation spots come open that you can slip into.
We are close by , they are on the hospital campus so I plan on stalking them everyday for an opening
I can email the pedi and my own doctor directly through our insurance/provider website. It's awesome. And they are both pretty good at responding quickly.
Kaiser?
Same here. And the advice nurse can also consult with an on-call ped if needed. We can have them leave a message for the doctor, or schedule a phone appt. Our old ped just retired, but she was seriously amazing about responding to emails super quickly, and often outside of work hours. Haven't written the new doc yet, but all of my emails to various doctors have always been answered with 1-2 days, often less than 4 hours though. I LOVE the email option (and it's free )
I can email the pedi and my own doctor directly through our insurance/provider website. It's awesome. And they are both pretty good at responding quickly.
Kaiser?
Same here. And the advice nurse can also consult with an on-call ped if needed. We can have them leave a message for the doctor, or schedule a phone appt. Our old ped just retired, but she was seriously amazing about responding to emails super quickly, and often outside of work hours. Haven't written the new doc yet, but all of my emails to various doctors have always been answered with 1-2 days, often less than 4 hours though. I LOVE the email option (and it's free )
My pedi's office has a triage nurse that answers the phone during their open hours. That is who I call if DD is sick or if I have a question. She can give advice over the phone and makes sick appointments as needed. She will call to follow-up on DD as needed. She also consults with the dr as needed and will call me back (very quickly, it's crazy) to tell me what the dr said (which is either the same advice she gave or to come on in to be seen).
I love it. I had no idea that this isn't the norm everywhere, it's pretty common here.
My pedi has a dedicated nurse line. I call the nurse line, leave a message, nurse calls back, usually inside an hour, then tells me to either come in or whatever.
I only talk to the pedi in the office. This seems normal to me. I don't expect the doctor to be fielding emails from parents all the time. Imagine how time consuming that must be with the average size practice! It would be a full time job in and of itself, with no time to actually, you know, see patients.