After-hours care for your sick child: The best choices

It’s already been a busy season— especially with respiratory and cough viruses. And influenza hasn’t even hit yet!

We know children don’t always get sick at convenient times, and sometimes you need your children to be seen when our office is closed. Though your “medical home” is with us, good after-hours care is sometimes essential. Fortunately, you have reliable choices for quality after-hours pediatric care in the Atlanta area.

Kids Time Pediatrics is an extension of our office, open weekdays in the evenings from 6-9 and on Saturday and Sunday from 1-7 (there are also special holiday hours.) At Kids Time, your child will always be seen by a board certified pediatrician—not by a “physician extender” who may not have pediatric experience. Waiting times are typically far shorter at Kids Time than at the other options, and with many insurance plans you’ll pay the same copay at Kids Time that you would pay at our office. Think of Kids Time as an ordinary pediatric office that happens to be open after hours, seeing the same kinds of things that we see in our office. Kids Time has multiple locations, including ones in Alpharetta and East Cobb—visit their web site for more information.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) Urgent Care Centers are in many neighborhoods. They can see any basic pediatric healthcare issue, and can also do x-rays and limited blood tests. Hours are usually 11 am-9 pm on weekdays, and 9 am – 9 pm on weekends (there are shorter hours on holidays.) Wait times are often long, and many insurance plans have higher out-of-pocket expenses at urgent care centers than at our office. CHOA urgent care centers do NOT do sedation for procedures or IV fluids.

The Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Emergency Departments at Scottish Rite and Egleston are open 24/7, 365 days a week, and are the best place for seriously ill children to be evaluated. They can handle anything, though waits can be long and visits to emergency departments can be very expensive for families.

There are many adult-oriented facilities that also offer to see children after hours, including clinics in drugs stores and adult urgent care centers. The providers working in these places are not pediatricians—they’re often not doctors at all—and may not have pediatric training or experience. We don’t think their care is up to the standards of a real pediatric facility, and we don’t encourage families to use them. Your children deserve better than a minute in a clinic.

In the table below are many common health conditions, and our initial suggestions for after-hours care. This list isn’t meant to be complete, and can’t account for every child’s individual circumstances. If you’d like more-specific guidance, please give us a call. One of our pediatricians is always available for emergency phone consultations for patients in our practice.

You can download a After hours care 2014 flyer of this document, including our care suggestions, here.