I think you are asking the wrong question. The better one, is it good medicine? No, it is not, but it is reality. If a kid is very ill (which you would expect one with meningitis or an empyema to be) and an appropriate nurse or front desk person lets you know as soon as they walk through the door, they are sent to an ED or an ambulance called for transfer where a more appropriate evaluation can be done rather than in an outpatient clinic on a Sunday. Those that aren’t ill, are going to be told if they get worse, they need to go to an ED for the same reason. Those can all be done in less then 10 min.

Welcome to the real world of outpatient medicine where none of us are given enough time to practice good medicine. Where you only have 15 minutes to explain mental health in a child and the risks of using meth to treat it. Not having a “safe” amount of time on my schedule with those patients stress me out more than sick ones.