Kaiser moms
fricksgirl
member
Do you feel like you always have to push to be seen by your dr?
We recently came over to Kaiser from Sutter. At Sutter, when I called expressing a concern and wanting my kids to be seen, they gave me an appointment within 2 hours. Always.
The beginning of Dec Si had an ear infection and I felt like I had to go through all this rigamoral, answering all kinds of questions and finally they begrudgingly gave him an appointment... the next day. Yesterday Si started coughing really badly, and I just want him to be seen today because in his 18 months, he's had 2 cases of bronchiolitis and I want to know if he needs to be on breathing treatments and I just want to get him in today so I don't have to spend my whole Christmas at Kaiser. You would have thought I was asking for 6 prescriptions of vicodin, they did NOT want to give me an appt. Finally they did, but not until 3 PM and I called when they opened at 8 AM.
They totally made me feel like I was being ridiculous but hello, he's my kid, he's not breathing right, I want him seen! Deal with it!
Just wondering if this is just kind of how it goes at Kaiser or if it's my office (we go to Kaiser South Sac at the hospital). On the whole, when we are there, I really like the service we are getting, and the facilities are fine and we are generally pleased... but the over-the-phone treatment is just totally champagne vs budwiser to me so far. Sad. 
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I haven't had that experince yet... we are new to Kaiser as well. Logan had a case of croup in the fall that was pretty bad, they asked me 100 questions over the phone, made him talk in the phone, etc it took close to an hour before they said to come into the ER. I think kaiser in general likes to have colds run the course and not bring the kids in.
If they wouldn't see my kids and I thought something was wrong, I would take them to the ER.
We are at Kaiser (in Stockton) and so far have loved it. They never give me a hard time with getting appointments for the girls. I usually don't call unless it's in the afternoon and even then, they've squeezed me in. There has only been a few times where we've had to wait until the next morning but that is only because I REFUSE to see a certain Dr. in the Stockton Office. I usually try to make their appointments online right after 6am (I think this is when they open up the day's appointments) and I can usually get in by 10am.
Bella get's ear infections all the time (in fact, she has one right now), and even though she never runs a fever, they usually get us in asap for her to be seen.
I agree with this. The questions you have to answer are annoying but they are Kaiser's way of making sure you don't need the ER or need to call 911 instead. It is annoying for sure but it is thier protocal. I agree it is annoying, and frankly one of the many reasons we left.
At times, I've had trouble getting the boys in, but lately, with DS # 1 with pneumonia and DS # 2 with a double ear infection in the past 2 weeks, I've gotten them in within a few hours of calling.
Sorry you are having trouble, maybe it's just your pedi's schedule? I know mine is still open to new patients so maybe that helps?
Ditto what Falynn said, they were working with the assumption that you want to see their primary pedi. You have to say that you want an appt today and that you don't care who with. You definitely need to advocate for yourself and/or your child.
To be honest, *most* kids don't need to be seen same day. *Most* kids don't need to see a doctor at all, which is a big part of why they ask so many questions. There are only so many doctors working and so many patients they can see per day, they need to weed out the weirdos who think their kid with a runny nose need antibiotics.
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Ditto Falynn & Kelly! I grew up very anti-Kaiser, but I have been pleasantly surprised over the past 10 years w/ them.
I've been with Kaiser for 10 years and on the whole I think it's an amazing health system and I'm glad they provide my care. I had a PPO prior to that that was terrifying -- trying to find a doc to take me was really difficult and the ER was my only option to get care and I knew it wouldn't be covered because it wasn't a true emergency.
The advice nurse system at Kaiser is certainly in place for all the reasons pp mentioned -- making sure people who need the ER get it, making sure kids who don't need to come in don't. On the whole it has worked really well for us -- we've been able to get good advice on most occasions, and get appointments when necessary, and even been advised to go to the ER on several other occasions. But there are honestly some not so good technicians and we've received bad advice twice and one made C's first episode of febrile seizure worse.
In the last year the care has also gone down hill in our little area because they stopped offering after hours office visits for same day appointments. In the past, if you called at say noon and needed to be seen for say a sprain, or an ear infection or a sudden onset illness, you could get an evening appointment with a regular doc in the regular office. Each doc was obligated to spend one week out of say 6 working the evening shift to cover all the patients in their clinic. It kept people out of the ER and DH, DS, and I used it a lot and LOVED it. In the last year though they no longer offer then and they've sent us to an urgent care instead which we don't like at all since it's not our regular office near our house and the waits are much longer.