Pediatrician interviews

jwoods6056

Hi again (sorry for two posts in a row, I have lots of questions this morning!). What questions are you all asking in your pediatrician interviews?  My DH and I are starting the process and curious as to what all we need to ask.

Thank you in advance for your help!

maryenap

What's important to you about how your child is treated? 

We are at odds over this.  I think finding a doctor that won't over medicate my son is important, while DH thinks giving meds for every symptom is OK.

Also knowing how long they are allotted to spend with each patient would be important.  This is not always the dr.'s choice

haleybeth81

How quickly you can get a sick appt?  Do they have any sick walk in clinic hours ( our pedi lets you walk in with sick kid from 6:30-7 am)?  What hospital do they admit to?  How long does it take for a nurse or MD call back?  Do you have advice nurse?  Do you handle your after hour calls within the practice (or do they share with another pedi office cause you might get someone you hate from another office)?  How hard is it to get an appt?    Also see if you get a lot of info up front.  I got a huge bag of info for vaccines, medication dosages, office hours and policies, and basic baby care.  I still use some of the pamplets and it saves me a lot of time.  Oh also ask if they have a webpage with info on it ( I look up Motrin and Tylenol dosages on my pedi's site when I can't find the pamplet).  That's all I can think of now.

rlscheck

maryenap:

What's important to you about how your child is treated? 

We are at odds over this.  I think finding a doctor that won't over medicate my son is important, while DH thinks giving meds for every symptom is OK.

Also knowing how long they are allotted to spend with each patient would be important.  This is not always the dr.'s choice

Good question.  A nurse I worked with was once at a pediatric clinic where they scheduled patients every 7 minutes.  It's sad that it has to come to that, but sometimes they don't have a choice

GinEthansMom

I just wanted to get a feel for our pediatrician.  Did he make time for us?  Did he make me feel rushed or foolish?  I just asked general questions about his overall philosophy, how he felt about breast/formula, etc?  We sort of let him run with the meeting and left feeling great.  He's DS's pedi still at 3.5 and I can't wait to have another baby in his care.

kellyh21

There is a great list on www.babycenter.com, that is what we used! GL!