After months of planning, I am excited to announce that Eugene Pediatrics is upgrading its triage system to better serve our families. Now, when parents call with a medical question, they will have the opportunity to see one of our pediatric medical providers by telehealth to help in making a quick evaluation. The advantages of this upgraded system are numerous, including an immediately scheduled time with a medical provider who can:

  • See and hear your child in real time.
  • Give the most advanced medical advice right away.
  • Order imaging and bloodwork.
  • Send prescriptions.
  • Help you develop a detailed follow-up plan.

Telehealth appointments can take place within minutes of a call or, depending on demand, scheduled within a few hours. This way of helping answer patient questions is convenient — done from the comfort of your home, often avoiding a drive to the office. It’s fast — no more waiting for a phone call back or playing phone tag with an advice nurse. And it’s personal — you will be seen by your child’s medical provider or someone on our medical team, here at Eugene Pediatrics, instead of potentially being sent to Urgent Care or the Emergency Department.

Using this system, I have already helped a family call 911 for their newborn in respiratory distress, cutting crucial time spent waiting for a traditional triage call back. I diagnosed pneumonia by taking a history via telehealth and then immediately sending them for a chest X-ray, which allowed me to have that patient on appropriate antibiotics within an hour of their initial call for assistance. I’ve found a few fractures and been able to refer those patients straight to the orthopedic specialist for management. And most of the time, if a child does need to be seen in person to peek at their ears or listen to their chest or feel their belly, I can pop them into my schedule for an exam knowing their whole story before they even arrived in my office.

The reactions by families have been overwhelmingly positive, and I am excited to see how much this new system will reduce waiting times and improve access to our medical providers this winter. Remember, we guarantee 24-7-365 access to medical advice when parents call. But with our newly improved triage upgrade, your weekday and weekend phone calls will give you a higher level of service more quickly!

Please share the word about this new improvement to Eugene Pediatrics services!