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 1/5/2020

1/5/2021 update with updated vaccine information and well vs. sick appointments
12/1/2020 update about rapid test, holiday travel

*Masks are required for kids over age 2 and adults for all office appointments.*
 

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 are 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 for most patients with Coronavirus. Treatment is supportive care to help relieve symptoms. There are some antibody treatments available to higher risk individuals over age 18 who recently tested positive for COVID-19 and some therapeutics for hospitalized patients.
- There are 2 current vaccines to protect against COVID-19 authorized for emergency use in the United States. The vaccine manufactured by Pfizer has authorization for use in kids 16 and over and there are ongoing trials to look at younger ages. There are many other vaccines currently completing late stage trials as well.
- COVID-19 vaccines are currently getting administered to healthcare workers and higher risk individuals. As vaccines become available to children and are more widely available, we will update our patients with our providers' recommendations. You can find out more information about COVID-19 vaccine distribution from the Maricopa County Health Department.

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.
- Stay at least 6 feet away from those outside of your household and wear a mask or face covering when physical distancing is not always possible.
- 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 COVID-19 but is currently asymptomatic, stay away from others and monitor for symptoms for 10-14 days from last exposure.
- If you have any symptoms of illness, please contact your doctor for medical advice or schedule an appointment to be evaluated.
- For children over the age of 2 with mild or no symptoms we are offering telemedicine visits to come up with a testing plan that works best for your situation.
- If your child is having any respiratory distress, take them to the ER, and let them know you are at risk for Coronavirus.
- Adolescents over the age of 12 years who have had moderate illness due to COVID (prolonged fevers, bedrest, respiratory symptoms but not requiring hospitalization) are recommended to have a screening EKG prior to return to play of vigorous athletics. Children and adolescents who have had assymptomatic or mild infection should be assymptomatic for minimum 14 days before return to play. Call the office or portal message your pediatrician if you have questions or concerns.

Protecting yourself and the community
- Keep yourself informed and know where to find up to date information (CDC.gov, azdhs.gov, who.int)
- 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.
- 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 are seeing both well and sick visits throughout the day with our sick patients scheduled at our Deer Valley Road location, 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 ask that children and family members who are bringing their children to their appointment during WELL CLINIC HOURS (includes well check appointments) be healthy and free of any signs of illness including fever (100.4 or greater), cough, congestion, sore throat, significant fatigue, body aches, or loss of taste or smell. We also ask that you reschedule your appointment if you have had known close exposure/contact to anyone with COVID in the last 14 days. You can call our office anytime and we will be happy to help accomodate a change in appointment date. This is imperative for us to be able to keep our staff and other patients healthy.
- Conversely we ask that you make appointments for things like musculoskeletal injuries, urinary complaints, wart removal, med checks, anxiety/depression consults, infant feeding issues, etc (ie, your child does not have any illness symptoms) during our well clinic hours to keep you and your family healthy. Please call our office if you are having difficulty scheduling.
- We are offering telemedicine appointments when an in-person exam is not required. Please contact our team to schedule.
- 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
- We have the capability of doing rapid in-house testing as well as send out testing to local labs. These different test types and their utilization will be based on your child's symptoms and history of illness or exposure and determined by your provider at your child's visit and also based on our testing supply. We are only testing children who are our patients and cannot offer testing of parents.
- We are currently testing patients based on symptoms and history.
- 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 10-14 days to monitor for symptom development.
- We are not routinely recommending antibody testing for Coronavirus. Antibody tests are not very good for checking if you are acutely infected as it takes several weeks for antibodies to appear. We also still don't know if having antibodies means you are protected, so this test may provide a false sense of security. Also, Coronavirus antibodies appear to diminish significiantly over a 2-3 month period. 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.

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?
- Since the beginning of November, we have seen a steady increase in cases of COVID-19 across the country and in our community, now nearly reaching higher peaks than we had over the summer. Cases will likely worsen over the next months until vaccines are widely distributed. Please remember to continue to practice social distancing, stay at home when able, and wear a mask when out of the house.
- 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
Additional COVID Testing Locations
Social Distancing After AZ Reopening
AAP Guidelines for School Re-entry
AAP Guidelines for Return to Sports
ACC Guidelines for Return to Play following COVID
AAP Guidelines Infants of COVID Positive Mothers
Breastfeeding Guidelines - COVID positive/exposed
COVID Vaccine & Breastfeeding (ABM)
COVID Vaccine & Breastfeeding/Pregnancy (ACOG)
Maricopa County COVID Vaccine Updates
Article on Helping Kids Wear Face Masks
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.