01Open 24 hours
A pediatric nurse answers, whatever time it is
Not a call centre, not a voicemail box and not a menu tree. A nurse who works with children, using pediatric triage protocols, on a Sunday at 2am if that is when it happens.
- Hours24 hours, every day
- Who answersA pediatric nurse
- CostIncluded for our patients
- NewbornsDirect line for the first 30 days
Emergency guidance
If this is a medical emergency, or your child is struggling to breathe, unresponsive, having a seizure, or badly injured, call 911 now. Call 911.
Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222, free and open 24 hours. 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988.
02
How a call usually sorts out
Four outcomes. The nurse's job is to tell you which one you are in, and to do it quickly.
Call 911 now
- Struggling to breathe, grunting, or blue around the lips
- Unresponsive, limp, or impossible to wake
- A seizure that is still going after 5 minutes, or a first seizure
- A head injury with vomiting, confusion or loss of consciousness
- Purple spots that do not fade when you press a glass against them
- Any thought of self-harm: call or text 988, or 911 if there is immediate danger
Emergency department tonight
- Any fever in a baby under 3 months
- Dehydration: no wet nappy for 8 hours, no tears, sunken eyes
- A cut that will not stop bleeding after 10 minutes of pressure
- Severe abdominal pain, especially with vomiting that is green
- A limb that looks deformed, or a child refusing to bear weight
Call us at 7:30am
- Fever over 3 days, or a fever that returns after a day without one
- Ear pain, sore throat, or a cough keeping everyone awake
- A rash that is spreading but the child is otherwise well
- Vomiting or diarrhoea that is settling but not gone
- An asthma flare needing rescue inhaler more than every 4 hours
Manage at home, message us
- A runny nose with a good appetite and normal activity
- One or two days of low fever in a child who is drinking and playing
- Mild nappy rash or teething discomfort
- A single vomit with no fever and normal behaviour after
- Questions about a medication refill or a form
General information, not medical advice. It is not tailored to your child and it does not replace a visit. These lists are not exhaustive. Trust your instinct and call.
03
What the nurse will ask you
Have these ready and the call takes half as long. Writing the times down beforehand helps more than you would think.
- Your child's age and weight, so any advice is dose-appropriate
- What the temperature was, how it was taken, and when
- How your child is breathing: fast, noisy, pulling in between the ribs
- Fluids in and nappies or trips to the toilet out, over the last 12 hours
- How your child looks between fevers, once medicine has worked
- Any rash, and whether it fades when you press a glass against it
- What you have already tried and what time you gave it
- Any long-term condition, allergy or medication we should hold in mind
Before you dial
- Weigh your child if you can.A current weight makes every dose conversation safer.
- Take the temperature properly.Rectal under three months. Say which method you used, because the number means different things.
- Have the medicine bottle in your hand.The concentration is printed on the label and it matters.
- Be somewhere you can hear.The nurse may ask to listen to your child breathing.
04
Questions about the nurse line
Yes, a pediatric nurse using pediatric triage protocols. Not a script read by a general call centre, and not an answering service that takes a message for the morning.
No. The nurse line is part of being our patient. If the call results in a telehealth visit you would be told the cost before it starts.
Go. Our nurses are more likely to send you in than to talk you out of it, because the cost of missing something in a child is too high. They will tell you which department and what to say when you arrive.
No. A nurse can advise, triage and arrange a visit. Prescriptions need a clinician and, for almost everything in children, an examination.
They are welcome at any hour. If there is any talk of self-harm we stay on the line and involve the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and we call 911 if there is immediate danger.
The number is the same at 2pm and 2am
One line, answered by a pediatric nurse, every hour of every day. If this is a medical emergency, call 911 instead.
(515) 555-0186If this is a medical emergency, call 911 instead. Do not wait on our line.
- Ingersoll(515) 555-01864120 Ingersoll Avenue, Des MoinesMonday to Thursday: 7:30am to 6:00pm
- Jordan Creek(515) 555-01876420 Coachlight Drive, West Des MoinesMonday to Thursday: 8:00am to 6:00pm
- Ankeny(515) 555-01882205 SW Prairie Trail Parkway, AnkenyMonday to Thursday: 7:30am to 6:00pm