Emergency and Urgent Care Telehealth at Brenner Children's
By Alison Gardner, MD, MS, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Brenner Children’s
As pediatric emergency medicine doctors, it is our job to walk with families through acute illnesses and injuries, but currently during the COVID-19 pandemic we are seeing families that are worried to come in the emergency department for fear of contagion.
We heard you.
We are pleased to announce that we have started a new way to connect with you through pediatric emergency or urgent care Telehealth visits!
Common Questions Asked as a Pediatric Emergency Doctor
What sorts of things do I see? What does my shift look like? Is it like TV?
The last question does make me laugh. In truth, my job looks like a lot of things. My colleagues and I walk with parents through earaches and fevers, broken arms and concussions, new diagnoses of cancer and diabetes, and major life-threatening trauma and accidents. Our most visible role as pediatric emergency physicians is to treat emergencies, but our most important skill is being able to differentiate emergency conditions from common conditions. Emergencies can masquerade as common things, and it is our job to notice the subtle differences in order to get you and your child started on the path to healing and health.
I Often Tell Parents That I keep Two Lists
- List One - contains all the diagnoses that are
most likely.
- List Two - contains the
diagnoses that are not likely, but rather the ones that are emergent and that I
don’t want to miss.
When you come with your child to the pediatric
emergency department, I automatically start my two lists as I listen to your child’s
story. Fever? Vomiting? Under list one I will list stomach virus. But under list two I will list things like
appendicitis, or pancreatitis, gall bladder disease, lower lobe pneumonia,
kidney infection. And because I teach
our young resident doctors that if we do not think of the rare and unusual
diagnosis, then we can never diagnose the rare and the unusual, I will add things
such as brain tumor or viral heart infection (myocarditis). You won’t often hear me tell you the full
extent of my list two, but rather I will recommend a work-up to be able to
eliminate things on that list. I only
let you go home with treatment for a viral stomach bug after I use a
combination of history taking, physical exam, and perhaps x-rays and labs if
needed, to make me comfortable there is little possibility of a List Two
diagnosis. The return precautions that I
give you are also symptoms of list two, so that we can work together to make
sure that we are still watching carefully for any changes after you return
home.
You can visit with our pediatric emergency or urgent care
specialists via video by calling:
- 1-844-WF-TEL-ED for an emergency room visit
- 1-336-716-9150 for an urgent care visit
Together we can help your family decide if home care is appropriate and
provide guidance regarding when follow-up is needed. We can also help with recommendations for x-rays
at our same day orthopedic clinics, referrals to our sub-specialists, or tell
you that you really do need to come into the pediatric emergency department for
further labs, x-rays or physical exam.
If we recommend you come to the emergency department, we will be
expecting you and let you know the way to find us and safely visit with us
during this time.
Is my child’s abdominal pain constipation or
appendicitis? What needs to be done
about this fever? My child just fell and
hit her head; what do I do now? Does
this need stitches?
We can help you with
all these questions and together we can find the right place for your child to
get timely and safe care.