Welcome to North Scottsdale Pediatrics!

Thank you for visiting the website of North Scottsdale Pediatrics, a leader in pediatric medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona. Established in 1988, we strive to provide excellent care to our patients – from infancy to young adulthood!

Our mission is to create:

• Confidence... that your child will receive the very best health care without unnecessary tests, procedures or medicines.
• Comfort... in a warm, attractive atmosphere where you and your child will feel comfortable.
• Understanding... through open and direct communication with our experienced staff, who take the time to help you understand your children’s health, development, behavior and illness.
• Convenience... through our location, office hours, accessible parking, and nearby pharmacy, X-ray and laboratory.

Among the best pediatricians in the nation, our providers obtained their degrees from top schools and training programs in the country. They share a passion for caring for patients and have dedicated their careers to treating children. In fact, our providers are proud to be consistently voted by their peers as “Top Docs” in Phoenix Magazine multiple times over many years.

We love our families, and we even provide services for parents before your baby is born! Once you’re expecting, we encourage you to schedule a prenatal visit and tour our office. We can provide you with hospital and delivery information as well as recommended readings to help you prepare for your special delivery. Once your baby arrives if you are struggling with breastfeeding, Dr. Caplan, an official lactation consultant, can help and schedules lactation visits for any babies in our practice. And of course we are experts at newborn care.

We know that choosing the right pediatric practice is an important decision, and we appreciate your confidence in us. Welcome to our practice!

After Hours Triage

Please click on the button below to speak with one of our pediatric triage nurses.
This service is only available for urgent questions or medical issues that cannot be addressed during our regular office hours. This service can only be accessed when the office is closed. Thank you for entrusting us with the care of your children.

Speak with an after hours nurse

Coronavirus Update 6/25/2020

6/25/2020 update: Increasing cases in AZ and NS Peds mask requirements for kids over age 2 for all office appointments.
6/12/2020 update: How to handle if your child has been exposed to coronavirus.
6/1/2020 update: We are continuing to keep well child visits and sick visits separated. We will be seeing sick visits in the afternoons only and the location will vary by week, so make sure to check the portal closely or confirm with schedulers where your appointment will be.
 

Patient Instructions for Quarantine

What is Coronavirus?

- COVID-19, is a new strain of Coronavirus. It is in the same family of viruses as SARS and MERS

How is it transmitted?
- Coronavirus is transmitted through droplets spread through cough, sneezing or touch

What are the symptoms and how serious is it?
- Cough, fever, shortness of breath, and/or muscle aches. Some notice significant loss of appetite and/or loss of smell. Symptoms can range from asymptomatic or mild to severe.
- Many people have mild disease, including most children. Most of the serious cases were in older patients and/or patients with complex medical conditions.
- You can find more information on a very rare inflammatory syndrome reported in some children: Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome in Children

How is it treated?
- Currently there is no specific treatment or vaccine for most patients with Coronavirus. Treatment is supportive care to help relieve symptoms. However, some companies are working on vaccines and treatment, so it may be available in the future.
- There are no drugs or other therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to prevent COVID-19 currently. There are some newer drugs showing promise for critically ill patients. Current clinical management includes infection prevention and control measures and supportive care, including supplemental oxygen and mechanical ventilatory support when indicated.

How can it be prevented?
- Best way to prevent is good hand washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap/water not available, use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol
- Avoid touching hands to face and eyes.
- If you are sick, stay home. Cough or sneeze into your elbow if you have no mask.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Clean surfaces regularly with products labeled effective against bacteria and viruses.
- If you are sick it is recommended to wear a mask or face covering over the nose and mouth even at home to prevent spread of droplets that can infect others.

What to do if you are exposed or you think you may have or at risk for Coronavirus?
- If your child has had contact with someone with COVID19 but is currently asymptomatic, stay away from others and monitor for symptoms for 14 days from last exposure.
- If you have any symptoms of illness, please call your doctor for medical advice or schedule an appointment to be evaluated.
- If your child is having any respiratory distress, take them to the ER, and let them know you are at risk for Coronavirus.

Protecting yourself and the community
- Keep yourself informed and know where to find up to date information (CDC.gov, azdhs.gov, who.int)
- Know the signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and what to do if you are sick
- Wash your hands, clean surfaces regularly, practice good hygiene control measures
- Masks are now required in many areas of Arizona when you are out and about and unable to practice physical distancing. 
- If you are sick, please stay home!! Refer to the Patient Instructions for Quarantine  handout if instructed to self quarantine by your provider.
- Parents and families must continue to make choices they feel is best for their family with regards to returning to day care and school.
- The AAP is advising against play dates and outside play on play structures/playgrounds.
- We must all adapt to disruptions in our regular routines (i.e. telecommuting, school closures, event cancellations) and follow advice from our local/state officials.
- Avoid nonessential travel

What is our office is doing to keep your family safe?
- We are keeping well child visits and sick visits separated. We will be seeing well visits in the mornings at both locations and sick visits in the afternoons only. The location of the sick visits will vary by week, so make sure you check the portal closely or confirm with the schedulers where your appointment will be. Saturday sick clinic is still temporarily being held at our Deer Valley office location.
- We are offering telemedicine appointments when an in-person exam is not required. Please contact our team to schedule.
- Our schedulers will be scheduling any sick appointments with fever or cough to make sure that patients are screened appropriately. Other sick visits can still be scheduled through the portal.
- We are currently seeing children of all ages for their well checks.
- We ask that all families and patients (over age 2 -- to the best of their ability) wear a mask for their appointment. This helps ensure our staff and providers stay safe and healthy as well.
- Our staff and cleaning company are taking extra precautions to make sure both offices are appropriately cleaned.
- We are checking everyone's temperature at the front desk during "well" hours and anyone who has a fever will need to be rescheduled during our "sick" hours.
- Our staff and providers are wearing protective equipment and are monitoring frequently for any signs of infection.

Testing for Coronavirus
- There is currently still a limited capacity to test patients for Coronavirus even though LabCorp and Sonora Quest are now offering outpatient testing.
- If your child has been exposed directly to someone with COVID (close contact is less than 6 feet for at least 15 minutes) but is asymptomatic currently, we recommend quarantining for 14 days to monitor for symptom development. We are NOT recommending testing for asymptomatic patients.
- We are currently testing patients based on symptoms and history.
* If your child is well with NO symptoms, no testing is currently recommended for Coronavirus. However, if your child has had direct contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, please call our office for further guidance.
* If your child has had fever (100.4 or higher) and/or cold symptoms (including cough or shortness of breath) AND has been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, please notify our office as they may meet criteria for testing. Please DO NOT come to the office before notifying us so we can take the proper precautions to keep our patients and staff safe.
- We understand that antibody testing for Coronavirus is very much in the news. While we hope that this will help us identify who has had COVID-19, the tests are still very new and haven’t been thoroughly studied over time to know how accurate the tests are and how we will use these tests to manage our patients. Our current recommendation is until we know more about whether these antibody tests are accurate and useful, we are not routinely recommending antibody testing. As more information is known, we may change our position. If you have any additional questions or any extenuating circumstance that you need to discuss, please make an in-person or telemedicine appointment with your doctor. Here are some issues with antibody testing:
· Not very good for checking if you are acutely infected as it takes several weeks for antibodies to appear
· We don’t know how accurate these tests are. May miss those who have antibodies or can falsely positive.
· Too early to know if having antibodies means you are protected. We may find people can get re-infected, so may give false sense of security.
· Too early to know if having antibodies is a good way to tell if you are safe to go back to work/school or safe from being infective to others.
· New information tells us coronavirus antibodies appear to diminish significantly over a 2-3 month period.

Important Travel Restrictions
- Delay travel plans if able. Travel by car when circumstances permit.  
- For up to date information on travel recommendations please refer to: www.cdc.gov

What is the risk for Maricopa County and Arizona?
- Our risk in Maricopa county continues to increase as we see record number of cases daily. Please stay home when you can and wear a mask to keep others around you safe and healthy!
- For best up to date information on risk in Arizona and Maricopa county: www.maricopa.gov/coronavirus

Helpful Links & Resources:
CDC Coronavirus Symptom Self-Checker
Patient Instructions for Quarantine
Home Isolation Guidelines
CDC Coronavirus
Maricopa County Health Department
Social Distancing After AZ Reopening
Breastfeeding Guidelines
Activity Ideas for Kids
Helping Your Kids Cope
Parent Coaching available from our Behavioral Health team

Helping Your Kids (and You) During COVID Social Distancing

We are all living through a new reality that is likely to last weeks at least. Schools have closed, parks and places where kids play together are now off limits and we are told to “shelter in place” to prevent the spread and “flatten the curve” on transmission, which has worked effectively in China and Korea. Parents are working from home and may need a quiet space apart from the kids for periods of time. And kids need to be kids and have access to activities to keep them engaged and learning as schools try and figure out how to respond with online learning options.

As parents of children, how to best take care of our kids during this time and how best to take care of ourselves? From the doctors and social work team at North Scottsdale Pediatrics:

1. Maintain safe connections with others while physically distancing. Practice safe physical distancing. With every person outside the household there is additional risk. So it means kids need to interact with friends virtually with no exceptions. But do maintain daily connections especially with friends and family using Face Time or Zoom.

2. Be Healthy. Get exercise and fresh air, but carefully and with separation of at least 6 feet between friends or neighbors. Consider hiking on non-crowded trails or walking or bike riding in the neighborhood or back yard.

3. Establish a routine. Online school, read, write stories or journal, play music, sing songs, reading poems, plant a garden, play games, do projects, or family cooking are some ideas to occupty the time. Try and follow a daily routine rather than a complete free for all.

4. Cut everyone some slack. These are scary times. At times it can feel overwhelming. Kids will express stress in ways that vary with age. Young ones may sense our stress and become whiny or irritable or have melt downs. School aged kids may manifest anxiety and fears: of going out, of going to bed, or difficulty sleeping. Address kids fears and concerns and explain why we have to do this to stay healthy and keep others, especially our older folks, from becoming ill. Here’s a good approach from the Mayo Clinic to help foster discussion with your kids during the pandemic.

5. Try meditation. Some great apps for meditation for school aged children through adults include Headspace, Smiling Mind, and Calm. If you are worried about how you or your child is doing, call our social workers for a telemedicine counseling session. See one of our social workers, Lauren, discuss some strategies in this video.

6. Avoid information overload yet respond to questions and fears. If watching the news gets you upset, do less of that. Focus on the positive stories and look for good things to talk about.