After Hours Advice
Need after hours advice? You have a few options:
1) Symptom Checker: Access the online interactive symptom checker from www.healthychildren.org
2) Call Children's Hospital Colorado's free nurse advice line at: 720.777.0123
3) Speak with the on-call doctor from H.I.P. (AFTER HOURS ONLY). Please call our main office number 720.583.4470 and press 1.
Urgent Care vs. Emergency Room
How do you decide where to take your child after office hours? Urgent cares are for conditions that require immediate care, but are not life threatening. Emergency rooms are for conditions that are life or limb threatening.
In the event that a medical concern occurs after hours and you want your child to be seen, determine if it is something you would bring them in our office for. If it is something that you would bring them in our office for go to an urgent care. If it is out of the scope of our practice go to the emergency room.
When choosing a facility, try to pick one that is a Pediatric urgent care or emergency room. The reason being is the doctors on staff have received specialized training in pediatrics. This allows them to diagnose conditions much faster and treat them more quickly versus a regular adult urgent care or emergency room.
Keep in mind urgent cares tend to be much cheaper in cost and have shorter wait times which get you in and out versus emergency rooms which are more expensive and have longer wait times.
Below is a table which can help you determine whether you should take your child to an urgent care or emergency room, based on symptoms.
|
Urgent Care |
Emergency Room |
|
Strep throat |
Head injury |
|
Ear infection |
Cardiac |
|
Croup |
Seizure |
|
UTI/painful urination |
Anaphylactic shock |
|
Wheeze/stridor |
Systematic infection |
|
Pink eye |
Asthma exacerbation |
|
Animal bites |
Stiff neck/can’t move neck |
|
Concussion |
Shortness of breath |
|
X-ray |
Spinal injury |
|
Foreign objects |
Severe burns |
|
Newborn abnormalities (fever over 100.4 rectal) |
|
|
Laceration/stiches |
|
|
Cellulitis |
If you are unsure whether to take your child to an urgent care or the emergency room feel free to call the office number and the on call provider will help you determine where you need to go.
Listed below are different locations of Urgent Cares and ERs
Urgent Cares
- AFC Urgent Care - Highlands (8:00am to 8:00pm)
- Children’s North Campus – Broomfield (24/7)
- Children’s Urgent at Briargate - Colorado Springs (5:00pm to midnight Monday thru Friday, noon to midnight Saturday and Sunday)
- Children’s Urgent Uptown - Denver (24/7)
- Children’s South Campus - Highlands Ranch (7:00am to midnight)
- Children’s Urgent - Wheat Ridge (5:00pm to midnight Monday thru Friday, noon to midnight Saturday and Sunday)
Emergency Rooms