Have you ever called your doctor’s office in an emergency and got a recording saying they were closed without any notion there was a reachable person on stand-by that could help?
Have you ever had to rush your child to the hospital and didn’t feel like you were equipped to fully answer the questions on the patient information sheet because you had no idea what that rash your kid got last year was called?
Have you ever had to pull an all-nighter because your child was sick and you weren’t exactly sure what to do to make them better?
Well, you are not alone. When asthma, a fever, a bad cough or cold or any other ailment strikes, as a parent, you have no choice but to try to make sure your child stays as comfortable as possible while getting well until, that is, you can get help from your doctor or another trained professional.
What’s even more frustrating is when it happens during the weekend while your doctor’s office is closed for two maybe three days. This is why, when choosing who to trust for your child’s medical needs, you need to think about how easy they will make it for you as well.
There are actually a lot of different things you need to take into consideration. First, where is your primary care physician located? Is your doctor’s office close to where you live or at least, in reasonable vicinity of your home and/or place of work? Second, is your doctor affiliated with a hospital that is geographically accessible to you? Third, are you able to contact your doctor during emergencies? Finally, how organized is the doctor’s office with your appointments, payments, getting your claims paid and allowing you to access your information to track it all?
Whether you‘re a working parent or not, having your doctor’s office close to where you live is not only a convenience, but at times a necessity. Sometimes, traveling while sick can put unnecessary stress on kids which is something you can avoid if your doctor’s office is nearby. If you are a working parent, it would also be less stress on you to be able to travel from work to home and then to your doctor’s office in as little time as possible.
When you buy a home, you take several things into consideration such as accessibility to a good school and hospital. If your doctor has no affiliation with the nearest hospital, you would have to travel farther just to get to a hospital where your doctor can attend to your family’s needs. In an emergency, this is something you simply cannot risk and most likely, you’ll have to settle with being attended to by a doctor who has very little background of your child’s medical history. This is unacceptable if your child’s medical charts are unattainable because they are locked away in a file cabinet in an office that is closed when you need it. This is when organization and accessibility of your family’s file from your doctor’s office is imperative.
As a parent, you may have called your doctor’s office a few times because of the usual runny nose, nose-bleed, or other accident like falling off a chair or getting cut while using scissors. It would be very frustrating if you were not able to get in touch with your doctor’s office during times like these. It is important that your doctor or at least his or her nurse and the information they have about your family’s health is readily available at all times to ease your mind when something happens to your child.
Fortunately with the help of technological advancements, parents can be more involved in their child’s care. Companies like HealthFusion, make this a possibility because of the software they created for doctors and medical facilities. If your doctor is using HealthFusion software, you can rest assured knowing that your payments are being correctly applied to your accounts, your medical claims are being submitted properly and in a timely manner and that you will have access to your child’s medical information when needed. In turn, this ensures accuracy of treatment for your child especially with the different kinds of immunizations that your child will need and that your account stays in good standing accordingly.
It also allows for improved appointment setting for check-ups and/or visits with the doctor. If the doctor’s office is using an older system or a system that doesn’t allow for easy use and organization it could cause a huge mess with misapplied payments, over-scheduling, incorrectly cancelled appointments, etc. Some parents find it daunting talking about health and medical needs for themselves and their child. However, as a parent, you need to be “in-the-know” of what is going on with your child’s health. At times, you may even need to be involved in the decision-making for your child’s health and being armed with knowledge of your child’s health history will help you fulfill this duty. So, finding a healthcare provider that easily allows you to access information about your child’s health is a big point in consideration. Most importantly, this is an important factor to have during emergencies or in the instance you have to take your child to a different healthcare provider.
As it has always been, as a parent, keeping your child safe and healthy is at the top of your priority list and “burning the midnight oil” is only natural when your child is suffering from an ailment. Just like in the 1992 American drama film entitled Lorenzo’s Oil, no parent can sleep well at night knowing their child is not feeling well, regardless of whether it is the usual cold, bad cough with a fever or in the case of the film, adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). The film showed the importance of having information as the parents of Lorenzo gathered whatever information they could get their hands on so that as medical amateurs they could find a cure to a disease that a lot of professionals, during their time, said was not curable. Today, the usual considerations a parent makes when choosing a doctor are still the same as before, along with having access to your child’s medical records for your peace of mind.
*Marie Miguel is an avid internet researcher. She is fueled by her determination to answer the many questions she hasn’t been able to find the answer to anywhere else. When she finds these answers she likes to spread the knowledge to others seeking help. She is always looking for outlets to share her information, therefore she occasionally has her content published on different websites and blogs. Even though she doesn’t run one for herself she loves contributing to others.
