Working Moms
groovygrl
member
pediatricians & sick visits- am I silly for being frustrated by this?
groovygrl
member
in Working Moms
We aren't happy at our practice for a number of reasons and are trying to find a new one that will fit us better but this one thing makes me crazy and I don't know if it is just normal practice at most places (we used to be in a differnet state at a different practice that was not like this).
For any visits that are not well/routine (e.g. scheduled weeks/months ahead), you can ONLY call the morning of the appt day. They don't open phone lines until 830am so for anyone who is supposed to be traveling to work in the AM, that means you're either already at work or in the car trying to call or you have to stay home & call b/c if you get an earlier appt then you'd have to turn around & drive back home again. For those of us w/ a 45 min commute, this is a huge PITA. Then on top of it, many days I have to hit redial for 10-15 minutes straight before I actually get through on the phone line. Pediatricians at our practice only work 3 days a week as well, and when you call if it isn't totally urgent and it's your pedis day off, they try to get you to consider coming in on a day when they are in, but when you can't call until 830am that same day, you have no idea what part of your day you'll have to cancel or rearrange until 830 or 845 AM the morning of. I TOTALLY get wanting to see your normal dr to manage your child's health but when you can't make an appt ahead of time it is ridiculous to me. (I actually work in healthcare so I do get it, I just find it completely inconvenient for parents, esp those who work f/t)
Is this how your practices work also???
For any visits that are not well/routine (e.g. scheduled weeks/months ahead), you can ONLY call the morning of the appt day. They don't open phone lines until 830am so for anyone who is supposed to be traveling to work in the AM, that means you're either already at work or in the car trying to call or you have to stay home & call b/c if you get an earlier appt then you'd have to turn around & drive back home again. For those of us w/ a 45 min commute, this is a huge PITA. Then on top of it, many days I have to hit redial for 10-15 minutes straight before I actually get through on the phone line. Pediatricians at our practice only work 3 days a week as well, and when you call if it isn't totally urgent and it's your pedis day off, they try to get you to consider coming in on a day when they are in, but when you can't call until 830am that same day, you have no idea what part of your day you'll have to cancel or rearrange until 830 or 845 AM the morning of. I TOTALLY get wanting to see your normal dr to manage your child's health but when you can't make an appt ahead of time it is ridiculous to me. (I actually work in healthcare so I do get it, I just find it completely inconvenient for parents, esp those who work f/t)
Is this how your practices work also???
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Re: pediatricians & sick visits- am I silly for being frustrated by this?
My only complaint is that our practice seems to be getting very busy and the past few visits we have waited a long time for the doctor.
Ours is similar but I have never had an issue with it. Sick visits can only be scheduled day of, but they do open the phones at 8 am, so a little earlier than your office. I have found I have to be ready to call at 8:00 and just hit redial a couple of times to get through, because everyone else is trying to get through too. But it does not take 10 - 15 minutes, more like dialing 2 or 3 times. There are multiple docs, and if your doc does not have an opening, you can see any of the others. I have seen all of the current docs in the practice and we are happy with any of them seeing our DS.
If LO is sick enough for a dr's visit, I probably would not be going into work that day anyway, so I have never tried to go to work and then called and had to go home. If I am taking DS to the dr. at any point that day, it would not make sense for me to go to work because my work is so far from home. Also, I usually find that if I call first thing in the morning I can get a morning appt with one of the docs. Our practice does have evening hours, so if DS was sick but could still go to school/camp/whatever (he is out of DC) then I suppose I could call first thing in the AM for an evening appt. But generally if I am planning to take him into the Dr. that day then I don't try to go to work too.
But if the way they do this is not working for you then I would consider finding another practice.
Side note, I did get through in just 8 dials today! But most days I count on about 7-10 min of redialing on average. I have had it go up to 15 min which is just crazy.
BUT - they also ask that we call in if we think we need to bring DS in. the reason is that they actually try to fit us in w/ our pedi, which I prefer. Waiting for the sick hours- who knows if it will be a mad house and/or which doctor we'll see.
Ours is exactly the same way, although we can see other docs, and what is really annoying is they want you to talk to a nurse before making an appointment and the nurses never answer so leaving a message and wait for a call back. I went off on the front desk person and did not feel bad she was rude when I said I knew my child needed to be seen I did not need a nurse to confirm that let me make an appointment. We have a well visit tomorrow and I plan to discuss the issues with our doc. I am very close to finding another practice, which is sad because I love our pedi.
I'm generally happy with ours. They don't open until 8:30 but we have never had a problem getting a same day appointment and can generally pick morning or afternoon. We either see our primary doctor or her PA and we love both of them.
The only thing that I don't love is that they use a service for the after hour calls and so we never talk to our doctor or our nurses. It usually isn't a big deal, though. A good friend of mine is my and DH's primary doctor and I can always call him if I have an evening/weekend question about the kids.
That sounds very strange. Our practice has about 10 pedis (I know some people want to see only their pedi all the time; I really don't care); DS sees "his" pedi for well child check ups and will see her for sick child visits if she's working that day. Our practice is open from 8:30AM till 9PM at night on weekdays and 8AM-1PM on Saturdays. I can get a same day sick child visit no matter when I call (assuming they aren't fully booked, which they never have been).
Sounds like it's time to find a new practice. Depending on the size of your city, I'd imagine there's better options available.
Ethan Michael - 12/21/09
Norah Jewel - 2/26/14
They thing they do that REALLY irritates me, is that the phone lines shut down from 12-1pm. I would totally understand this if they had only 1 or 2 receptionists, but this is an office of 6 pediatricians and multiple receptionists and people that make only specific types of appointments etc. To me they are WAY to big to shut down for an hour in the middle of the day. However, they have other features that I really like, like walk ins on Saturdays until noon, a line where you can leave a message for the doctor and a nurse will call you back with advice, and then my pedi herself is really great. So we just work around the rest.
The other great thing they do is that each pedi works in partnership with one other pedi. So that if your pediatrician is not there you will see one other pedi who is familiar with your child already. If something major is going on and neither one is there you can see anyone else, but we've actually never had that happen.
Nope. We live exactly in the middle of the two clinics, so not an issue for us. Also, where we live, 10 miles on a freeway is nothing. And both offices are right off the freeway.
No, I don't seem to experience that. When I call I am sometimes put on hold for several minutes but a live person always answers the phone.
I think they start answering calls at 8 AM. If DD needs be seen that same day then I figure I'm staying home with her so I don't drive in to work. On the same token there have been a couple instances where daycare called me to pick up DD. I called my Pedi's office and was able to be worked in that same day...even though I called well after lunch! Yes, I waited a bit for the doctor but I understand that.
I'm curious though, if they are encouraging you to make an appointment for the following day they maybe you don't medically need to be seen that same day? My pedi office never turns me away if DD is sick and there is any indication that it is better that she be seen on the day I call. If anything, I've called for advice expecting a home remedy and they've told me to bring DD in.
Bottom line: what you are describing would cause me to look elsewhere. But I love our pedi...so I can't imagine sticking with a situation that I found frustrating.
https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/02/downside-open-access-scheduling.html