Welcome to Dr. Robert Walker's Practice

We are very happy you have chosen us to be your child’s pediatrician. We are currently accepting new patients up to age 21. Please call us during regular office hours and we will be glad to schedule physicals or appointments as needed.

Office Updates

February 2012
For the first time this season, CDC reports that the percent of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza has surpassed 10 percent, which is generally a marker to indicate that flu season is beginning.

By this measure, activity this season is off to a late start. In the past 29 years, the percent of respiratory samples testing positive for flu has remained below the 10 percent mark until February only once before (1987-1988).

Other indicators are lagging, but are expected to increase in the coming weeks. MDPH strongly encourages you to take advantage of this late flu season to keep vaccinating.

End of the 2011 Update:
As 2011 comes to a close, we would like to thank all of our families for their patience as we made our transition to electronic medical records this past August!

As we move into 2012, please remember to call to schedule your 2012 Physical Exams. We also still have plenty of flu vaccine and you can still make appointments for flu shots by calling the office during business hours.

Thank you for a another great year! We wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year!

For information about the 2011-2012 Influenza Vaccine: http://cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/fluvaccine.htm

Appointment Information

Newborn Visits:
Congratulations on your new baby! We look forward to seeing you and your child throughout the coming years.

We like to see each newborn within 5 days of discharge from the hospital. During the visit, Dr. Walker will review birth history, feeding and sleeping behaviors, assess your newborn's weight and health, and answer your questions.

Routine Well Child Visits:
Routine exams are scheduled to assess your child's growth and development and administer routine immunizations that help prevent disease. We will discuss feeding, elimination, sleeping, and behavioral issues and provide anticipatory guidance including safety and healthy lifestyle information. You will be able to ask questions and address concerns with Dr. Walker.

Routine exams take place at ages 4 to 6 weeks, two months, four months, six months, nine months, 12 months, 15 months, and 18 months, and then annually starting at age 2. Dr. Walker will generally follow patients up until age 26. As children mature and develop a need for privacy, the physical examination and discussion with the child is conducted separately from the consultation with the accompanying parent. This occurs at different ages for different children.

It may be helpful to bring a written list of questions to appointments or use one of our Previsit Questionnaires. ( ßmake ‘Previsit Questionnaires’ a link to the ‘Downloadable Forms Section’ )

Well child checkups can be scheduled by calling the office during regular office hours (8:00 AM -- 1 PM and 2 PM -- 5 PM), and can be scheduled up to three months in advance.

Sick/Urgent visits
Generally we schedule sick visits for the same day or within 24 hours of your call. These visits may be for acute illness, injury, rechecks, or to evaluate ongoing problems.

Sick appointments can be made by calling during regular office hours.

After Hours, Weekend, and Holiday
When you call after regular office hours, press ‘0’ and the answering service will refer you to the on-call physician.

Dr. Walker is in an on-call group with Cohasset Pediatrics (Drs. Axel, Carolan, Corbett, and Pinney), Scituate Pediatrics (Drs. Morin, Zambuto, Huang, Parris, and Marcus), and Hanover Pediatrics (Drs. Jolles, Johnston, and Kennedy).

After hours, the on-call physician is available by phone and may have office hours. It is our policy to return after hours phone calls within one hour. If the call is emergent please let the answering service know and the on-call physician will call you back as soon as possible, often within 10 minutes. If you do not receive a return call as expected, please call the answering service again -- they may have taken your phone number down incorrectly or the message may not have been transmitted properly. We do want to be able to reach you.

Later at night, phone calls are returned by Night Nurse. Night Nurse is a professionally staffed phone triage service that answers phone calls for pediatricians in eastern Massachusetts. The staff at Night Nurse can help you with urgent problems. They can arrange for your child to be seen in the emergency room if necessary. They can also consult with the on-call physician if necessary.

On weekend and holiday days the on-call physician sees patients in his or her own office on an urgent care basis. Depending on how many people need to be seen, the office may be open for only a few hours or for a full day. If you know your child needs to be seen, we suggest you call early in the day to schedule an appointment. Later in the day the on-call physician will be taking phone calls and may refer you to the emergency room.

Address:
435 Furnace Street
Marshfield, MA 02050
Phone: (781) 837-7200
Fax: (781) 837-7255
Directions

Cancellations:
We understand that conflicts and emergencies sometimes arise. If you are unable to make an appointment, we appreciate at least 24 hours notice so that another family may be seen. Please call us at the office if you anticipate being more than 15 minutes late for your appointment.

Additional Resources

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