Primary Care: Our pediatricians are Consultant Pediatricians and do not provide primary (day-to-day) healthcare for patients. In Red Deer and the surrounding Central Zone area, primary care is provided by the family physicians and walk-in clinics. If your child has a cold/illness or new health concern that your pediatrician has not previously seen your child for, you should contact your primary care physician’s office first.  Your family or walk-in physician may send a referral to our office asking our pediatricians to see your child for a specific problem or issue. After each new consultation, our pediatricians will provide an opinion or advice on the evaluation or management on that issue to both the referring physician and to you.  Your pediatrician will either ask to see the patient in follow-up or release the patient back to family physician for further management.

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Separated and Divorced Families: Click here to read the policy

 

Booking Appointments: Once a referral is received, one of our medical office assistants will contact you to book your child’s first appointment, update demographics and let you know if there are any forms to complete prior to your child’s appointment. After each appointment, we ask you to please stop at the reception desk to book a follow-up appointment. Before the appointment, an attempt to contact you to remind and confirm the appointment will be made by phone or text message. It is your responsibility to ensure that you and your child can attend the appointment once it is booked. Your child must be present for all appointments unless previously arranged.

 

Late/Missed/Canceled Appointments: If you are late for your appointment, it may have to be shorter than anticipated or possibly cancelled. If you are running late for the appointment, we ask that you call the clinic to review the options regarding your child’s appointment. If you need to miss or cancel an appointment, please contact our office asap.  We ask you to cancel or reschedule with at least 24 hours notice to avoid being charged for a missed appointment. If you do not show up for a booked appointment you may be charged a missed appointment fee. If a missed appointment fee is applied to your child’s chart, then the fee must be paid prior to booking another appointment. These fees are available on our uninsured services fee list.

 

Contact Information: Please ensure that your child’s chart is up to date with the current phone numbers, email and home addresses, and emergency contact information. Please inform our office of any changes to your contact information upon arrival at the clinic or call after any of the above information has changed.  Updated information will ensure that you receive appointment reminders and calls from our office.

 

Results: If lab results are normal, you may not receive a notification of the results. In certain situations, the pediatrician may ask you to book a follow-up appointment to review investigations specifically, regardless of the result.

 

Prescription Refills: If your child requires a prescription refill prior to follow-up, please have your pharmacy fax a prescription renewal request to our office.  Please note that an urgent request for prescription refills may not be able to be accommodated, so please ensure that your child has enough medication to last them until the refill request can be completed and returned to your pharmacy.  Please note that some refill requests are not able to be accommodated because your pediatrician may need to see the patient in follow-up before issuing.  

 

Uninsured Services: There are a number of services that physicians provide that are not covered by Alberta Health Care. Please consult the uninsured service fee list for a comprehensive list of these services. The prices are based on suggestions from the Alberta Medical Association. Payment for these services are due upon receipt of the service. Payment can be made by cash, cheque, debit, credit or e-transfer. Cheques should be made payable to our office, Pediatric Consultants Central Alberta Inc.

 

Electronic Medical Record: Our office uses an electronic medical record, which means that we do not keep paper copies. Your child’s health information is well protected in accordance with the Health Information Act. Any paper reports brought into your appointment will be scanned and immediately returned to you or a copy obtained and then shredded once scanned to their chart. A copy of your child’s medical chart can be obtained for a fee. Copy of the file is done by USB transfer which is encrypted and password protected. A new USB key will be sold to you as part of the medical chart fee.

 

Education: Our pediatricians are committed to the education of future doctors. A medical student or resident may see your child and you during their appointment. Medical students are trained to obtain medical histories and perform physical examinations. Residents are trained to diagnose and manage medical conditions. Sometimes a medical student or resident will see you first to obtain information from you and your child. Your child will always see your pediatrician, for a period, at every appointment.

 

Behaviour: Our office staff are specially chosen and trained to help patients. We understand that there are many reasons why you may need to visit our office and we make every effort to make your visit as pleasant and comfortable as possible. In turn, we ask that your behavior is respectful to our staff. There is a zero tolerance for abuse of any kind and may lead to dismissal from the practice. In turn, if you have any problems associated with your visit, please contact our office manager in writing. In order to provide you with the best possible care, a satisfactory doctor-patient relationship is necessary. If for any reason, this relationship becomes compromised, then it may be best for both parties to end the relationship.