When you’re a working parent, balancing your time between your career and your kids isn’t always easy. For instance, what happens when your child gets injured or sick?
The answer seems obvious: You get them the best care available as soon as possible. But that’s not always easy either. Illness and injury don’t happen at a parent’s convenience, and Longstreet Clinic pediatrician Dr. Richard R. Shelton said he and his colleagues noticed some of his patients were having to seek treatment at urgent care centers or emergency rooms due to their parents not being able to get their kids to Longstreet Clinic during typical operating hours.
Considering that Longstreet Clinic is a patient-centered medical home, Dr. Shelton felt that was a reality worth addressing. And so, Longstreet Clinic Pediatrics began the process of collecting parent feedback and studying the most requested appointment times.
The results led to extending the operating hours at all five of the Clinic’s pediatric locations to include hours after 5 p.m. during weekdays. Fridays, the research showed, were the least desired time that parents and families wanted to come in for an appointment – as families wind down busy weeks or make leisure plans. By closing early on Fridays, Pediatrics shifted otherwise inefficient time to extend its weekday schedule and offer more Saturday hours – hours that feedback showed were more desirable for family schedules.
New Pediatric weekday hours are:
- Mondays through Thursdays: 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
- Fridays: 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
In addition, Longstreet Clinic Pediatrics is also now open on Saturdays in Gainesville and Braselton from 8:30 a.m. to noon. (Previously, only Longstreet Clinic’s Gainesville location had Saturday hours.)
“We looked closely at what we called our internal customers – our staff – and our external customers – our patients – and asked, ‘How can we better serve both at the same time?’ ” Dr. Shelton said. “As a patient-centered medical home, we want to see our patients any time they need us; it makes for better care for them, and it helps us to get to know the patient better.
“So far, the feedback we’ve had from patients and staff is that they are really pleased with both changes.”
Parents and guardians can now set appointments that better suit their busy schedules while also getting the first class care they expect from Longstreet Clinic providers.
“This is huge for parents and kids, because parents can wait for their kids to get home from school, while mom or dad may can wait until after work, if necessary,” Dr. Shelton said. “And being open on Saturdays in Braselton is huge for our patients that live near to that area.”
Meanwhile, Longstreet Clinic Pediatrics staff get to enjoy Friday afternoons off.
“The staff has been ecstatic about the new Friday hours, and having everyone on board was an important aspect of this,” Dr. Shelton said. “Everybody had to buy in to this to make it work, and it’s been a group effort.”
That includes staff in all pediatrics, laboratory technicians in Braselton, as well as Clinic leadership, who encouraged the pediatrics practice to think outside the box to find solutions.
“I want to thank the whole board and Mimi Collins for having an open mind and making this work, particularly in Braselton,” Dr. Shelton said, also crediting Dr. Saima Hussain, Dr. Rachel Crudgington, pediatrics practice administrator Pam Patterson, the Senior Staff Supervisors in Pediatrics (Tasha Gee, Elisha Lee and Jessica Wynn) and Longstreet Laboratory Services Director Stephanie Brown as instrumental in the process. “It’s been a group effort, and I’m so proud of everyone. A plan is only as good as the people executing it, and everyone has been really positive about how this is working.”
Need to schedule an appointment? Call today!
- Gainesville: 770-535-3611
- Oakwood: 770-533-6500
- Buford: 770-932-8519
- Baldwin: 706-776-2368
- Braselton: 770-533-4770
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