• By Tiffany Alary
• Posted Monday, August 1, 2016

Emergency Department versus Primary Care Physician

What is a true emergency for a child? Many parents have a hard time deciding if they need to take their child to the Emergency Department or to their Primary Care Physician. The answer is most child illnesses can be taking care of at their Primary doctor’s office, usually with much less waiting time. Your child’s Primary doctor also knows the history of your child’s health, along with any previous diagnoses or concerns you may have had. The Primary doctor has also been the one to complete your child’s Well Child Checks and ordered their immunizations.

Care Coordination for Children monitors frequent ED use, and helps parents determine if an ED visit is appropriate versus calling your PCP for an appointment. Most PCP offices can get your child in to be seen the same day. Also most PCP offices also have after hour appointments available, as well as weekend visits. Illnesses such as colds, fevers and ear aches, can be easy assessed by your PCP. Think of true emergencies that would require an ED visit, as an illness or symptom you would consider “life threatening” to your child.

Care Coordination for Children will work with you and your child, to make sure your child is well connected with a Primary doctor and that you are aware of their office hours, as well as after hours and weekend visits they have available. CC4C also will follow up with the parent, if an ED visit was completed, to make sure any follow up appointments needed have been scheduled, as well as making sure any prescribed medications have been obtained. CC4C is here to answer any questions the parent may have regarding a recent visit to the ED or PCP. Overall, working together as a team, greatly benefits your child’s health, which is our ultimate goal.