Gone Surfing!

AKA: Clinic When Dr. Fradkin is….

at a Medical Education Conference or

on a Family Vacation or

taking a Sick Day

Hi Puffin Clinic Families! When first starting the clinic the number one question I got (by a large margin) was, “But Dr. Fradkin how will you take a vacation?” The fact that ya’ll understand the importance of taking a day or week off for rest/recovery and spending time with family and friends for promoting one’s physical, psychological, and family health is truly refreshing in this day and age. And, the fact that everyone is looking out for my own physical, psychological and family health really pulls at the heart strings and a testament to the nature of the clinic and how we practice medicine and support community.

So, to answer the question, yes, at times I will be out of the office for various reasons and here at Puffin Pediatrics we have a solid plan to make sure kids and families are well taken care of even when I am not physically in clinic.  

For Vacations/Medical Education Conferences: When it is time for a weekend/week with the family or a required yearly medical conference to maintain board certification we will have one of our awesome locums (a physician who works in the place of the regular physician) doctors to be in clinic for sick visits.

To schedule an appointment when one of the locums doctors are in clinic you can use the online patient portal or call the office. The visits during these times will be primarily for same or next day sick visits (think urgent care) or for pre-arranged follow up for a something we are treating/monitoring in clinic. The locums docs will also be covering after hours phone calls (not as much text messages) along with our awesome nurse triage team. And for clinic emergencies I will be going to locales that have good cell and WiFi service so can be contacted if needed.

The locums docs are medico/legally not allowed to be in clinic without our medical assistant present to help out. So if there is an after hours concern that they feel needs an urgent evaluation they can’t meet you at the clinic after hours for a visit. They will instead help coordinate an urgent care or emergency room visit for the family.

Vacations will preferentially be taken on times away from normal holidays so we can still offer holiday sick visits for families.  No one wants to go to the ER on thanksgiving!

If for some reason we are unable to have one of our locums docs in clinic during a planned vacation urgent medical calls will go through our nurse triage line first. If the nurses are thinking the kiddo needs to be seen for a visit they will let me know and I will call the family and see if it is something I can take care of over the phone or with a telehealth visit. If that kiddo needs to be seen in person then I will coordinate care with our preferred urgent care or emergency room for the family.  

For Sick Days: Due to how sick days just sort of happen and usually don’t provide enough warning for me to get one of our locums doctors into clinic we have a different coverage plan. If I am sick I will offer care by telehealth for same day sick visits.  If I am really sick and won’t look cute on camera for telehealth I will have pediatric only nurse triage take first call from families but if they think a kiddo needs to be seen or should go to urgent care I will call the family to see what is up.  And if I agree I will coordinate the urgent or emergency clinic care with the team at those clinics.