Emergencies & Urgent Care

If you have a hand or upper extremity emergency during office hours, every effort will be made to “work you in” on the day that you call.  Some severe hand injuries will, of course, require you to go to your nearest emergency room (ER).  The ER physician will evaluate your problem and consult with our on-call physician when necessary.  In this setting, you will often need to notify the emergency room physician of your request to be seen and/or followed up by Dr. Sforzo.

If you have a hand emergency when our office is closed, please contact us through our answering service, or go directly to your nearest emergency room.  Once you have been evaluated there, and if our additional services are indicated, and requested by you, then every effort will be made to see you at the hospital or provide follow-up for your condition as needed.

Prescriptions & Telephone Calls

For established patients’ health and safety, prescriptions, refills, renewal authorizations, and other related clinical matters requiring access to the medical chart, can only be dealt with during office hours.  Prescriptions should have at least 2 days of the medication remaining to avoid missing any doses from any inadvertent delays in obtaining your refill. 

Please call our office with any questions or concerns with your treatment or condition.  Our staff should be able to assist you, and if it is determined that you need to speak to a physician, he will be contacted so that he can return your call at his earliest convenience.  After hours, only urgent medication calls will be taken from the answering service.

Surgery

If you are having surgery, make sure that you are perfectly clear on exactly what is to be done.  This includes, but is not limited to, making sure that you understand the customary risks and benefits of, indications for, and alternatives to, any proposed surgical procedure - as well as how it will be done on the affected part of your upper extremity.

You should also be certain of whether the surgery requires hospitalization overnight or is an outpatient “same day” procedure.  For most surgeries that are not done in the office, you will also need to have someone to drive you home from the out- or in-patient hospital, and you will not be able to eat or drink anything after midnight immediately preceding the day of your surgery.  You should also bathe with a good anti-bacterial soap the night before surgery.

Wrong site surgery is 100% avoidable, and Dr. Sforzo ascribes to the policy of always confirming the surgery site immediately before the procedure with the patient and marking it appropriately before entering the operating room.