Forms & Policies

Office Policies

Emergencies and After Office Hour Emergencies

Children who are blue, unresponsive, have severe difficulty breathing, or suffer a serious accident should call 911 or go directly to the nearest emergency room without calling our office. Parents may call our office from the emergency room if necessary. Occasional phone and paging system failures do occur. If you cannot reach us at our main line, call the emergency room at North Shore Children's Hospital at 978-354-2750 and have them page us.

The nurse or physician that returns your call will give you appropriate advice. Occasionally we will direct you to the emergency room. We prefer not to send our patients to the emergency room at night because of potentially long waiting times, but sometimes must do so for the child's safety. We do not return to the office after it is closed due to safety and liability reasons.

Office Behavior

We understand that a visit to the doctor can be stressful for patients and parents. We do our best to see patients at the time their appointment is scheduled, but cannot completely control waiting room time. If you are in an examining room for what you believe is an excessive period of time, please notify a nurse or employee. We will return you to the waiting room until a physician can see you.

We expect parents to assist us in examining their children. Parental passivity, shouting, or taunting does not make the visit go better, and conveys a lack of support to your child in a difficult time.

We expect children under twelve to be accompanied by a parent or guardian for a well child visit. Nannies, baby sitters, and siblings cannot usually provide the information we need and often will not fully understand our instructions or requests. Adolescents are examined alone, and parts of the examination are confidential. Nevertheless, it is helpful for adolescents to be accompanied by a parent or guardian as well.

Prescriptions

Prescriptions can be called in between 8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. Monday–Friday for pick up at your designated pharmacy that day. Requests made after 4:00 p.m. can be picked up the following day.

We need 24 hours to process requests for controlled substances such as Adderall, Concerta, and Codeine. All prescriptions for controlled substances must be picked up at 84 Highland Avenue during our office hours. Please bring a photo ID.

Referrals

Patients must contact their primary care physician in order to be referred elsewhere. Often we require that the patient be seen here before we write the referral.

Once you have scheduled an appointment, please call our referral department and leave a message with these details: patient’s name, date of birth, and primary care or referring physician, as well as the name of the specialist, reason for the referral, and date of the appointment.

Common Reasons to Call the Doctor

Newborn Care

Newborns are more fragile than other children and new parents are concerned about their welfare. We encourage new parents to call if they have any questions about what their infant is doing. Please call if you are worried. You will not be this worried forever, and your concern may be important.

Vomit: Call if your infant's vomit is green. This is an emergency and we need to know about it. It may be an intestinal obstruction. Most episodes of white or clear vomiting, even through the baby's nose, are not serious.

Color: Call if your infant turns blue or white centrally, that is, on the lips or genitals. Hands and feet of infants are often blue and this is normal.

Feeding: Call if your infant will not feed for two consecutive feeds.

Fever

Fever frightens parents and occasionally doctors. It is not a symptom of disease. It can be important or merely uncomfortable. Any temperature over 100.4˚F or 38˚C is a fever. Temperatures should be taken rectally if possible. Axillary (armpit) temperatures are an approximation of a rectal temperature, and temporal (head) temperatures may be better than axillary. Ear thermometers are not helpful in young children.

Fever in Newborns: Call the office if your child is under two months and has a temperature greater than 100.4˚F.

Fever in Older Children: Temperature between 100.4˚F and 102˚F do not need to be treated immediately. Make sure your child is not overdressed and offer him/her something to drink. You can place your child in a lukewarm bath in order to bring the fever down. You may also use Tylenol or Motrin 10mg/kg or 5mg/pound every four hours for comfort. Do not use rubbing alcohol as it raises the temperature.