Nurses Department
Calling Our Office
Our specially trained staff of pediatric nurses are available throughout the day to answer your questions and can help decide if your child’s issue warrants an office visit, can be managed at home, or may require a specialist visit. In most cases, we can manage your child’s issue in the office so please call us so that we can help direct you appropriately.
We make every attempt to answer live calls as they come in. Occasionally, call volumes may be high and you may be directed to leave a message. These messages are monitored hourly (often even more frequently), and our nurses will return your call as soon as they are able.
For routine/non-urgent questions (ie: potty training, feeding/nutrition questions), you may be asked to leave a message on the nurses non-urgent line. These messages are checked occasionally throughout the day and a call back may be expected within 12-24 hours.
Important Phone Numbers
Massachusetts Poison Control Center 800-682-9211
Prescription Refills
Requests for refills can be submitted online anytime via MyChart or by calling the office. Upon calling the main number, you can ask a staff member to connect you with the pharmacy line for prescription refills. In your message, please be sure to include: patient’s name, date of birth, person requesting the refill, name of medication being requested, dosage, pharmacy name and address, and number at which you may be contacted in case of questions or problems. Most prescription refills may be requested and completed during our regular office hours, Monday thru Friday. It may take up to twenty four hours for requests to be completed so please plan accordingly.
Patients requesting refills on medications prescribed by specialists should contact their specialist for these refills, as they know these medications and their interactions best. Please be aware that specialists do not always have someone covering their practice while away, and such requests may take several days. Plan accordingly for medications you may need renewed by your specialist.
Please be aware that certain medications require more frequent office follow ups. You may be asked to make an appointment in order for your medication to be renewed.
Behavioral Health Prescriptions
Some medications (ie: stimulants used to treat ADHD, SSRI’s used to treat depression/anxiety) call for stricter medication adherence guidelines due to potential for misuse or abuse and/or potential side effects. We require strict compliance with the policies outlined here:
- Regular appointments to monitor progress.
- Refills approved by the prescribing provider only, so refills should be requested with at least three days advanced notice. We suggest setting an alert on your cell phone or signing up for refill reminders at your pharmacy to help remind you. Refills should be requested monthly, and we will not provide any prescriptions for extended supplies of stimulant medications.
We are unable to refill prescriptions for medications prescribed by other medical providers. We reserve the right to discontinue prescribing medication at any time if we feel the patient has broken any contract condition.
Travel Visits
Traveling with children requires special planning and preparation. If your family plans on traveling out of the country, please inform our nurses of your intended trip at least one month ahead of time. This will give us time to retrieve the necessary data on any required travel immunizations and/or medications, using the resources from the Centers for Disease Control. We will need the following information:
- Dates of departure and return (including total length of stay)
- Country to which your child is traveling
- Cities to which your child is traveling & type of area (city vs rural area)
Once the travel work up is complete, the office staff will call you to schedule an appointment to review all travel information and administer any required vaccines/medication. Parents may also visit the Traveler’s Rapid Health Information Portal to view additional travel recommendations.
Health Forms
Health forms are published to MyChart within 24 hours of your child’s physical exam. You are able to print/save so that copies are readily available at any time. During the summer months, there is a high volume of college and other health forms. Please be patient – at this time, it can take up to 7-10 days for a form to be completed. For this process to be as efficient as possible, make sure that you have filled out all information that you can (ie: name, date of birth, etc.) before handing it in to the nurses for completion.
