Quit Wasting My Healthcare

Pediatric Consumerism

I had first hand experience this weekend using a significant amount of healthcare service for the lowest cost possible.  Here is the short story: my two year old daughter had a fever and started coughing in her sleep Friday night.  We use a pediatrician that is open on Saturday so we walk in for a simple pediatrician visit at 9 am on Saturday morning.  The diagnosis is ear infection.  We are prescribed some generic antibiotics and get a free sample of cough medication.  After feeling great all day on Saturday, my daughter is then up all night coughing, weezing, writhing, and crying hoarsely.  Turns out that she really has the croup (basically, a dangerous form of laryngitis for kids).  We are able to call the pediatrician’s nurse hotline on Sunday morning and figure out that steroids are recommended for cases where wheezing and throat inflammation continue (swollen throats in children can cut off the wind pipe which is why the virus infection is dangerous).   By noon on Sunday, we have found a pediatric urgent care center in North Dallas where they do a simple examination an order some generic steroids as the nurse had suggested.  After the proper medication, my daughter sleeps through the night and appears well on the road to recovery Monday morning.

The point is that because we were prepared with the right after hour access pediatrician and other care options, we avoided an expensive emergency room visit and survived a mis-diagnosis.  Having additional access to a 24 hour nurseline (which cost $12 to use) allowed us to handle the mis-diagnosis and set us on the correct path to recovery.  All of the medications needed were generic as well.