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Our friendly, knowledgeable staff works hard to make your visits to our office as smooth as possible.

What to expect
A pleasant, comfortable first visit builds trust and helps put the child at ease during future visits. We want your child to enjoy getting to know our doctors and staff, so we work hard to establish this bond during every appointment to our office. During your initial appointment, we will explain everything in detail and answer any questions you may have.

We look forward to meeting you and your child and providing the quality, comprehensive medical care you expect and deserve.

Appointments
Pediatric & Adult Medicine, Inc. takes pride in offering a range of providers and appointment times to accommodate your schedule. Please call our office to schedule any appointments (714-565-7960) and our front desk staff will accommodate your desired physician and time to the best of their ability. If you are running late or need to reschedule, please contact our office as soon as possible.

Appointments are available Monday 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Tuesday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Urgent late day appointments are seen from 4:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.. Our office phones open at 7:30 a.m. on weekday mornings and we do not close our phones during lunchtime. After 5:30 p.m. you will reach our answering service.

Patients are encouraged to make appointments with the doctor of their choice. However, if that doctor is not available, we expect that our patients will be willing to see another doctor who is available. We have one physician each day that only sees “sick” children. This ensures that your child can been seen the same day you discover his or her illness.

Sick visits can and usually should be made for the same day. Chronic problems or rechecks can be scheduled for future dates. You may also schedule same day sick visits directly through our secure patient portal.

Well (preventative) visits are generally scheduled a few days to a few weeks into the future. We schedule a limited number of well visits to be able to accommodate the children that are acutely ill.

Our patients are seen by appointment only. Children with acute problems who come to the office without appointments will be scheduled as soon as possible, but there may be a significant wait. For your own convenience, always call for an appointment before coming to the office. We can always work an extra patient into our schedule, provided we have some advanced notice.

Please arrive a few minutes before your appointment time. Arriving late will cause delays in our schedule which will affect other patients. If you cannot keep your appointment or you are going to be late, please call the office beforehand. If you are going to be significantly late, your appointment may have to be rescheduled. A “no show” fee may be assessed for all no shows.

You can help us keep our schedule on time by:

1. Being on time on the correct date – if you are more than 15 minutes late, you may be asked to reschedule.
2. Not asking us to see other children who do not have an appointment.
3. Being specific about the reason for the visit when you make the appointment, i.e., well check, earache, recurrent headaches, or any prolonged symptoms or illness.
4. Indicating if your child has a complex or chronic medical problem that will require extra time.
5. Calling to reschedule or cancel an appointment if you are unable to keep your appointment. A “no show” fee may be assessed for all no shows.

To make your visit more comfortable, we offer:

• Separate entrance for possible contagious rashes
• Custom designed and decorated exam rooms
• A state of the art procedure room
• Drive up / pick up service. No need to park, gather the children and come into the office just to pick up a form or prescription. Just drive up, call us on your cell phone and we’ll run it out to you.

Working Parents
If you have signed our “Consent for Treatment” form, a baby-sitter or relative may bring the child to the office for treatment. The mid-day and extended office hours are specifically intended to accommodate working parents who otherwise might have difficulty using our regular office hours.

Emergency Calls
Call 911 for life threatening emergencies in which your child may require immediate treatment.

Injuries
If you believe your child has had a minor injury, call our office and ask to speak to one of our nurses immediately. They will evaluate the injury and advise you to seek care in our office or request that you seek care from an emergency room.

Advice
If you would like advice on how to care for your child, one of our telephone advice nurses can help. Our nurses are trained to make decisions about patient care that need to be seen by a physician and how to provide home care for children that may not need to be seen by a physician. You will be asked to leave a message and a nurse will return your call. We will make every attempt to return your call promptly. You may also send a message through our PAM patient portal.

Medication Refills
Please call your pharmacy to request a refill, during our normal business hours. We will need to access your child’s medical record before we can authorize any refill. Refills may also be requested through the PAM patient portal.

After-Hours Calls
If you have an urgent problem that began after 5:30 p.m. or when our office is closed, please call our regular phone number 714-565-7960 and discuss the problem with the Advice Nurse on call. Please remain near your phone until we can call you back. Please have paper and pencil ready and have your pharmacy phone number available. In the event of drowning, unconsciousness, severe injury, or other life-threatening emergency, call 911 immediately! It is a good idea for you to know beforehand which hospital emergency room or urgent care center your insurance company will authorize. If you feel you need to go to an emergency room, then please go. However, if time permits, please call us before you go. Our advice nurse will help you determine if your child needs to be seen in the emergency room, urgent care center or if home measures are OK until the office opens. We will be able to offer advice as well as authorize the emergency room visit for your insurance company. We strongly advise against taking a very ill child to a local walk-in clinic. After-hours calls should be limited to such emergencies mentioned above as well as urgent conditions such as lacerations, very high fevers, difficulty breathing (not a stuffy nose), or severe pain. Questions regarding non-emergency problems such as colds, sore throats, low-grade fevers, mild flu symptoms, pinworms, diaper rash or minor injuries are best handled during our regular office hours.

If there is a question or problem that the nurse is not comfortable answering, they will contact the on-call physician for assistance.

Newborn Hospital Visits
One of our physicians will visit the hospital nursery each morning. The babies are evaluated to make sure there are no health problems. The physician will also visit with mom to answer any questions she may have. We will request that you call the office to set up an appointment when your child is 2 weeks old (if your baby is born at St. Joseph Hospital) or 3-5 days old (if born at a hospital other than St. Joseph). An earlier appointment should be scheduled if there are any problems or concerns.

Our Laboratory Services
Our laboratory is certified to provide a limited number of tests in the office. Your insurance coverage may dictate if we can perform any of these tests in the office or if you need to have test performed at an outside lab.

• Rapid Strep
• Rapid Mono
• Rapid Influenza
• Hemoglobin
• Glucose
• Urinalysis

Referrals to Specialists
Your insurance coverage may dictate how your child may be referred to a specialist. If your medical group requires pre-authorization our referral coordinator will process the referral at the direction of your physician.