What To Bring To and Expect At Your First Visit

What to Bring to the First Visit
If your insurance requires a referral (many HMOs do), please make sure it is current. For your first visit it is helpful to have previous medical records including lab results, X-rays, and growth charts available for us to review.

What to Expect at the Visit
Please arrive 20 minutes prior to your first appointment. Upon arrival at our office you will be asked for the completed new patient intake form, the patient registration form, a photo id and insurance card. Then your child will be “checked in”, which entails measuring the height, weight, and vital signs.

You will be put in an exam room, where we will see you. We will take a complete medical history, followed by a comprehensive physical examination. In the case of adolescents your child may be given the option of asking you to leave the room to afford him/her some privacy if he/she so desires. This will be your child’s decision.

At the end of your child’s evaluation he/she may need further testing, such as blood tests, urine tests, or X-rays. We will discuss these tests and why they are necessary with you. These tests may sometimes be done at our office by us, but more commonly are done at an outside laboratory.

If tests are ordered, your doctor will inform you of the follow up plan for test results. When all tests are complete you will typically meet with the doctor again at a return visit to discuss results. Simple test results may be communicated to you by phone, email, or text by Dr. Bernard’s nurse. If you do not hear back from us within 2 weeks of completion of testing, please contact us by phone. We make every effort to contact you with abnormal results.

All new visits are typically 30 minutes, except for Type 1 Diabetics which are 60 minutes for the initial visit, Please schedule your follow-up visits in advance, because the schedule fills up fast.