preparing for your appointment
Sick Appointments - Telemedicine Appointments
Per current CDC guidelines, all sick patient visits will be done via Telemedicine.
Preparing for a Telemedicine Appointment
- Connecting - The provider will send a link (to your previously specified phone # or email) 5 minutes before to five minutes after. Please be in a well lit area, quite area.
- Write down all of your child's symptoms, including how long they have had them and if they are getting better or worse.
- How are your child's symptoms affecting their...eating, sleeping, and other activities, for example, are they drinking fluids, playful, consolable, or are they just crying all the time?
- Make sure you have a flashlight handy in case your provider wants to take a look at your child's throat. Maybe even practice having them open wide before the visit.
- Weigh your child - For little ones weigh yourself then weigh yourself with your child and do the math.
- Check your child's temperature
- Write down all medicines your child is taking
- Write down any questions you have, as you might forget them during the visit.
- Notify us of any demographic changes - address, phone number, insurance. We must ensure that current information is being sent to testing facilities, if needed.
- Review the Telemedicine Consent
Well Care Appointments
Well Care Appointments - Well care appointments are still important to continue, when at all possible. Young children, especially, need to get physicals and vaccines that protect them from illnesses much more serious to them than Coronavirus. We have implemented procedures to keep them and you safe. We are following appropriate CDC recommendations, cleaning intensely and often.
How To Prepare for a Visit to Our Office
- Please call from the parking lot when you arrive - our staff will guide you from there. Make sure to report anyone feeling ill and what their symptoms are.
- All patients should be covering their mouth and nose with a mask, tissue, shirt or sleeve when they enter the office. This is for extra protection to our staff and others coming in and out of the office.
- Well Care Forms are available on line, please click the link to pre-print and complete any necessary forms for your child's visit. If you don't have access to a printer, we will have copies available in the office. During this time, we are accepting forms via email at ncpnurse@gmail.com. Please DO NOT communicate anything emergent via this email, as it is not checked regularly.
- Please only bring the child being seen. Siblings are discouraged to attend, unless absolutely necessary.
Vaccine Only Appointments
Vaccines are still very important to have during this time, protecting children from illnesses much more serious to them than Coronavirus.
To reduce the number of patients entering the office, we can administer vaccines in the car, in the parking lot of the office.
How To Prepare for a vaccine only visit
- Please call from the parking lot when you arrive (203) 426-3267. Make sure to report anyone feeling ill and what their symptoms are.
- Make sure the child receiving the vaccine(s) is sitting in the seat closest to the door. It is not safe for staff to climb into a car or reach in the back.
This new procedure is just another way we are adapting to the current times. If you, or your child would rather have the vaccine(s) in the office, we will be more than happy to accommodate.
CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) information
IMPORTANT RESOURCES
IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION FROM OUR OFFICE
Community Responsibility: The CDC and Health Department are trying to limit the spread, or at least slow it down. Self-quarantine, containment areas and social distancing are implemented for that purpose. Please follow the policies and procedures put in place for all our safety
The best way to stay healthy is practicing good hand washing, remembering not to touch your face, and social distancing.
FAQ
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19? It is important to emphasize the risk of serious illness from COVID-19 remains low. Most infected people will experience mild upper respiratory symptoms, including cough, fever, difficulty breathing/shortness of breath. Some people, including the elderly and those with COPD, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, are at greater risk and may require more intensive care and/or hospitalization. Please go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, here, to learn more about people at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.
What should I do if I think I am experiencing symptoms of COVID-19?
First, limit your interactions with others as much as possible. Call our office to discuss concerns and symptoms at (203) 426-3267. We are scheduling telemedicine appointments for all sick patients.
Please be sure to report any of the following:
- cough, fever, difficulty breathing/shortness of breath
- If there has been any close contact with someone who is suspected to have or confirmed to have COVID-19
- Travel history, especially if you traveled to countries that have a Level 3 Travel Health Notice (widespread transmission). Please go to the CDC website, here, to see a list of these countries.
Can I be tested for COVID-19 if I think I have been exposed to someone with the virus?
After consultation with our office, we may connect you to a drive-through collection site.
The collection site is ONLY for people who meet ALL of following criteria:
- You called your doctor’s office and had a consultation
- Based on your symptoms and other information you provided, your doctor determined that you meet criteria for COVID-19 testing, and ordered a test for you
- You have a scheduled appointment at the collection site
What Should I do If someone in my household gets sick?
Information from the CDC on caring for someone confirmed or under investigation for COVID-19
Household members, intimate partners, and caregivers in a nonhealthcare setting may have close contact2 with a person with symptomatic, laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or a person under investigation. Close contacts should monitor their health; they should call their healthcare provider right away if they develop symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 (e.g., fever, cough, shortness of breath) (see Interim US Guidance for Risk Assessment and Public Health Management of Persons with Potential Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Exposure in Travel-associated or Community Settings.)
Close contacts should also follow these recommendations:
- Make sure that you understand and can help the patient follow their healthcare provider’s instructions for medication(s) and care. You should help the patient with basic needs in the home and provide support for getting groceries, prescriptions, and other personal needs.
- Monitor the patient’s symptoms. If the patient is getting sicker, call his or her healthcare provider and tell them that the patient has laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. This will help the healthcare provider’s office take steps to keep other people in the office or waiting room from getting infected. Ask the healthcare provider to call the local or state health department for additional guidance. If the patient has a medical emergency and you need to call 911, notify the dispatch personnel that the patient has, or is being evaluated for COVID-19.
- Household members should stay in another room or be separated from the patient as much as possible. Household members should use a separate bedroom and bathroom, if available.
- Prohibit visitors who do not have an essential need to be in the home.
- Household members should care for any pets in the home. Do not handle pets or other animals while sick. For more information, see COVID-19 and Animals.
- Make sure that shared spaces in the home have good air flow, such as by an air conditioner or an opened window, weather permitting.
- Perform hand hygiene frequently. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains 60 to 95% alcohol, covering all surfaces of your hands and rubbing them together until they feel dry. Soap and water should be used preferentially if hands are visibly dirty.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- The patient should wear a facemask when you are around other people. If the patient is not able to wear a facemask (for example, because it causes trouble breathing), you, as the caregiver, should wear a mask when you are in the same room as the patient.
- Wear a disposable facemask and gloves when you touch or have contact with the patient’s blood, stool, or body fluids, such as saliva, sputum, nasal mucus, vomit, urine.
- Throw out disposable facemasks and gloves after using them. Do not reuse.
- When removing personal protective equipment, first remove and dispose of gloves. Then, immediately clean your hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Next, remove and dispose of facemask, and immediately clean your hands again with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Avoid sharing household items with the patient. You should not share dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, bedding, or other items. After the patient uses these items, you should wash them thoroughly (see below “Wash laundry thoroughly”).
- Clean all “high-touch” surfaces, such as counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables, every day. Also, clean any surfaces that may have blood, stool, or body fluids on them.
- Use a household cleaning spray or wipe, according to the label instructions. Labels contain instructions for safe and effective use of the cleaning product including precautions you should take when applying the product, such as wearing gloves and making sure you have good ventilation during use of the product.
- Wash laundry thoroughly.
- Immediately remove and wash clothes or bedding that have blood, stool, or body fluids on them.
- Wear disposable gloves while handling soiled items and keep soiled items away from your body. Clean your hands (with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer) immediately after removing your gloves.
- Read and follow directions on labels of laundry or clothing items and detergent. In general, using a normal laundry detergent according to washing machine instructions and dry thoroughly using the warmest temperatures recommended on the clothing label.
- Place all used disposable gloves, facemasks, and other contaminated items in a lined container before disposing of them with other household waste. Clean your hands (with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer) immediately after handling these items. Soap and water should be used preferentially if hands are visibly dirty.
- Discuss any additional questions with your state or local health department or healthcare provider. Check available hours when contacting your local health department.
To see the entire web page, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/guidance-prevent-spread.html