Pediatrician Interview Questions

Tirtza9

I'm 36 weeks along and feel like I should have found a pediatrician already. I'm only just now beginning to look. What sort of questions should I ask or things I should look for? 

This is what I have so far..... (please feel free to add to the list!) 

1. Office needs to be close to home

2. Are there well and sick hours (or at least separate waiting areas) so my little one doesn't have to be exposed to contagious kids during check-ups.

3. Is there a procedure in case I need a doctor 'after hours'. 

Angeldcf

Do they follow recommended guidelines on vaccinations?  If not.... um, huh, where is your degree from....why?!!

Who covers when doc is unavailable- during day/night?  NP? PA? Other docs in practice?

SaraL1175

Our pediatricians offer an open house every few weeks for expecting parents. It's always in the evening, with a dr and nurse presenting this type of info to a group of parents, and Q&A to follow. I'm sure some of the practices in your area have similar meet and greets.

chicagojackie

You need to make sure the pediatrician is on staff at the hospital you're delivering at or someone else is going to see your baby in the hospital.

There is no good medical evidence for "separate waiting rooms" for sick and well children. Most kids are contagious before mom knows they are sick. Kids sort of lick each other and then lick everything else too. What are you going to do?

You can also find a family practice physician or an internal medicine-pediatrics physician. All of these docs are able to care for children.

Angeldcf

We love our pedi (using her for LO #2), but their practice doesn't have privileges at the L&D hospital. The on-call pedi examined DS before discharge, & we rounded back at her practice in a few days.  Don't let that necessarily rule out a good one.

mandamoochie

@chicagojackie‌ -yeah I was going to say.... the "well baby" side of the pediatricians office usually has more kids snotting and hacking everywhere than the "sick baby" side (which may only have 1 or 2). I know their logic is they don't want THEIR kids around the sick kids and they aren't THAAAT sick reaaalllly. /:)

chicagojackie

Angeldcf said:

We love our pedi (using her for LO #2), but their practice doesn't have privileges at the L&D hospital. The on-call pedi examined DS before discharge, & we rounded back at her practice in a few days.  Don't let that necessarily rule out a good one.

What happens then if your child (god forbid) needs admission to your children's hospital? You're going to go with a physician that doesn't know your child and doesn't know your childs' pediatrician? I think it is optimal for people to link up with their pediatrician when their child is born and to meet in the hospital. But, I'm old-school like that.

chicagojackie

unconventionalatbest said:

I have always wondered about the separate entrance/ waiting area gore well and sick kids. Our pedi doesn't have that, but it's nice to know we're not missing out.

You're not missing out on anything

DBride2006

- Do they charge a fee if you call in with questions?

- Meeting with them to gauge their overall philosophy is important... we're pretty laid back, prefer to avoid medications if possible, etc. I want to know if my pedi suggests antibiotics, my kiddos REALLY need them (which is fine), and not just a first course of action every time they sniffle, etc. 

thejollyrancher

This is one part of the American system of which I am jealous. Where I'm from, you often don't have a choice. Reminds me of what you say to a whiny/picky child: "you get what you get and you don't get upset!"

In fact, in my city so many GP's have retired and no doctors want to replace them that there is actually a frightening shortage. I moved here when I was pregnant 7 yrs ago, had an OB but was put on countless wait lists for a GP and I just landed one this past month!

Angeldcf

chicagojackie said:

Angeldcf said:

We love our pedi (using her for LO #2), but their practice doesn't have privileges at the L&D hospital. The on-call pedi examined DS before discharge, & we rounded back at her practice in a few days.  Don't let that necessarily rule out a good one.

What happens then if your child (god forbid) needs admission to your children's hospital? You're going to go with a physician that doesn't know your child and doesn't know your childs' pediatrician? I think it is optimal for people to link up with their pediatrician when their child is born and to meet in the hospital. But, I'm old-school like that.

The practice has privileges at Children's (15min from home & bigger one downtown)- just not at where I'm delivering.  They typically see deliveries at another hospital (competing healthcare system) 10min down the road. 

I'm in north Dallas- several healthcare systems here & lots of full-service hospitals along with specialty hospitals (mine is mainly L&D and ortho - full ER to stable/transfer out- given the demographic here). 

LeepingLiz

 My main question was:

"What are qualities/beliefs in a parent that would not allow for a cooperative relationship for you as a doctor?"

Basically that opened the door for them to just flat out list their position and how they interact with families. I kept my desires close to the chest until after I heard their answer because I didn't want them to worry they were offending me. There were some other general business questions since I am using a small birth center and needed some after birth preferences clarified too (first appt timeline, hearing test, feeding issues) since all that would normally be done in hospital prior to discharge.

WanderingA

The only questions I had in addition to the ones that you mentioned were whether they were affiliated with a hospital, and whether they would be able to comply with the orders from the birth center (baby must be seen by a pedi within 48 hours of birth).

We actually just switched to a pediatrician because our insurance changed, we had A seeing our family doctor and she got great care there

Tirtza9

Wow, I can't believe I hadn't considered whether or not the doctor would have medical privileges at the hospital where I'll be delivering. Thank you so much for reminding me to ask that important question! 

I'm also going online and ordering that Baby 411 book asap! As soon as I'm done reading The Bump of course 

 

Thank you for all of your suggestions, I took notes and added them to my list of questions. I'm much more confident about finding the right doctor now