Saturday Flu shot clinic/ Monday update/ illness class this week

Lots of illness out there.
There are quite a few kids with coughs.
Our wheezers are wheezing and those nebulizers have been humming in all of the exam rooms...so there is certainly something going around.
We are also seeing croup.
http://www.nursejudynvp.blogspot.com/2013/09/croup.html

There are kids with fevers. Most of them have been lasting about 3 days.
http://www.nursejudynvp.blogspot.com/2013/03/all-about-fevers.html
We have had some kids with sore throats. None of them have tested positive for strep yet this week.

There were a few patients in this week with vomiting and diarrhea.

http://www.nursejudynvp.blogspot.com/2013/03/tummy-bugs-101.html
We hadn't been seeing much of that around recently. I hope it is a quick one, if it seems like it is anything especially nasty I will post again later this week.

We are doing the first flu shot clinic of the season on Saturday morning  
October 5th from 9:00 am-noon.

No appointments are needed.
We will see any of our Noe Valley Pediatrics patients and parents.
Parent shots are cash only ( We can give you a bill to send to your insurance if you request it)
$40


All of vaccine that we purchased this season is the Quadrivalent form. It protects against 4 possible flu strains, rather than the 3 in the standard vaccines.

All of our vaccines are preservative free
So far this season the side effects have been quite mild.
I have had one or two young patients who had a mild fever after the shot, but for the most part folks are fine.
I barely even had a sore arm after mine.

If you are interested in getting the nurse judy posts automatically
e-mail me nursejudynvp@gmail.com and I will be happy to add you to the list

I do have an illness class coming up Thus Wednesday October 2nd at 7:30 pm
where we focus on knowing how to recognize when an illness needs attention and when you can play the wait and see game.
Email me if you are interested in a spot.

Stay Well,
Nurse Judy

Monday update September 23

Summer is officially over.
We have lots of kids with runny noses and harsh croupy coughs.

There are plenty of fevers out there as well. Some of the kids are breaking out in a rash once the fever is gone (usually the fever lasts 2 or 3 days). Many viral syndromes have that pattern and usually don't need to be seen.
If your child has a rash with a fever at the same time, I want you to call.

We also have seen  a 48 hour illness with mild fever, very cranky, low energy,  head ache, decreased appetite and some vomiting. Warning Warning, the parents are coming down with this one as well.


We are busy with flu shots.
See last weeks post for our flu shot hours.

Stay well
Nurse Judy

Hey Brown and Toland Patients

If you are a Brown and Toland patient and you receive one of the patient satisfaction surveys please do take the time to fill it out.
Your feedback is important to us and if there is something that we can to to improve our service we want to know.
(Alas we don't have a magic wand that eliminates any waiting..but we sure do wish we did)

If there is something that we are doing especially well of course we love to hear about that as well.

We appreciate your time!
Thanks
Nurse Judy and the Noe Valley pediatrics staff

We have the flu vaccine

We got the long awaited flu vaccine for babies today.
We are now well stocked with the Quadrivalent Flu vaccine for all patients over the age of 6 months.

If you have an appointment to see one of our doctors, we can always add a flu vaccine to the visit if the doctor feels your child is well enough to get one.

If you are coming in for the flu vaccine only we will be holding our standard flu shot clinic hours.
Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday from 10:00 am-11:30 am and again from 2:00pm-4:00 pm
Please call in the same morning to get on to one of the lists.
If your child is coming in for a shot only, please be aware that they won't be seen by one of the doctors.

We are still seeing our normal flow of patients, so it is a balance to get all the flu shots taken care of without massively stressing out our hard working medical assistants.

We will also be holding our first Saturday morning Flu shot clinic of the season on October 5th from 9:30 am until noon.
There is no appointment needed for the Saturday clinic and we will vaccinate Noe Valley Pediatric patients and family members.
(for parents, we do not bill your insurance but we will be happy to furnish you with a super bill that you can submit)
Fee for parents is $35 for the flu shot, $40 for the flu mist
( the mist is probably more effective for younger patients..we suggest the shot for the older adults)

I got my flu shot last week and had no side effects at all.

Here's to avoiding the flu this season!!!
Nurse Judy

Monday Update September 16th

We are seeing some kids with fevers and congestion.
 Some of the fevers have lasted for four days or so, but the kids don't seem too worrisome. If the fever continues into day 5, they need to be seen.
 If the fever does not respond to meds or the child is super fussy, I would want them seen sooner.

Below is the link to my blog post on fevers
http://www.nursejudynvp.blogspot.com/2013/03/all-about-fevers.html

There are also lots of coughs and colds.
Last week many of the kids seemed to have labored breathing with a croupy cough. Any time you have labored respirations your child should be evaluated.

I am hoping that the infant flu vaccine will come this week.
I will let you know.

Have a healthy week
Nurse Judy

September 9th Monday Update

This morning when I looked at my Monday pile of charts I knew that the slow season was over.

There were lots of  calls about fevers and coughs,
I had a few kids with vomiting and diarrhea.
There was one case of croup that ended up in the ER.
There is definitely some RSV around  (which will present as terrible congestion/ cough/fever)
I have some patients with hand foot mouth, and they report that their schools are sending out notices about it. I personally have not had tons of calls about this lately...but it is out there.

With the hot weather I also had the expected calls about heat rashes, bug bites and kids falling all over the place.

 Last week,we got in our first shipment of the "big kid" inject able flu vaccine.( I am getting my flu shot tomorrow!)
 We are still waiting for the infant doses that are for babies under the age of 3.
 Hopefully it will be here next week. I will post the information as soon as it arrives.


There is a recall out there for the Infant Motrin
http://www.motrin.com/infantnews?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Additional+Infants+Motrin+Recall&utm_term=infants%20motrin%20recall%202013&utm_content=Recall%7Cmkwid%7Cs7RY4Uqjk_dt%7Cpcrid%7C28191135124


Nothing dangerous, but do check any that you have to make sure you don't have the lot numbers in question.


Be well,
Nurse Judy

Tuesday September 3rd update

We were flailing around in here today after the 3 day weekend, so thanks to everyone for  their patience if you encountered busy signals or long wait times.

Towards the end of last week, many of the calls were related to all sorts of rashes.
There are a few cases of hand foot mouth.

This week most of the issues were cough and cold related.
We had one positive test for RSV ( a nasty cold that usually shows up in the fall and winter, I will do a post on it for the nurse Judy blog one of these weeks)

We still do not have the injectable flu shots. I will let you know when it arrives.

We are also completely out of the PPD/ TB tests.
There is a nation wide shortage.
I am trying to get some answers from the health department for guidance about this.
 Currently the adult immunization clinic on Grove street has a limited supply that they will administer to patients over the age of 13. It is $40 from them.

Stay well,

Nurse Judy