Pediatrician advice

edaire · May 2014

We've been seeing the same pedi since we brought LO home at 3 days old. To say she has been wonderful to us is an understatement, but every time we have an appointment it's an hour wait at minimum. This week I brought LO in for a rash and we were there waiting for 2 hours. Most of the time it's about an hour and a half to spend 3-4 minutes in the room with the doctor. Is this crazy? I feel like it is. Being in a waiting room with a million people with a sick baby for an hour and a half seems like cruel and unusual punishment. Should I change doctors? Or is this the norm for pedis?

sleepy33 · May 2014

This is fucking cray

PixiesDust · May 2014

That is not normal and way, way, WAY to long to make someone wait. I would change doctors -- perhaps to a practice that has more physicians.

shelley1002 · May 2014

At my pedi the most i have waited is 10 minutes.

The wait sounds like my doctor that I am in the process of leaving and sadly not because of the extreme wait times.

AmandagStark · May 2014

That seems crazy to me! Have you spoken with the staff? "I am very fond of our doctor, but we will have to seek another professional because of the extreme wait time to see her".

stephl3055 · May 2014

Are you walking in or did you make an appointment? Just curious, not that it justifies you waiting 2 hours. Ours has a walk-in time during the afternoon and they keep their website updated with the wait time, but I've never seen anything over 15 minutes. I'm not sure if ours doesn't have many clients (her office is fairly new), but we never wait more than 5 minutes and she spends so much time with us. I seriously love her.

GearUp · May 2014

Yup, too long of a wait. I would first bring the concern up with the office staff (perhaps you have only been seen on weird/unusual days and that is not the norm) before shopping around for a new pedi.

MargaretC5 · May 2014

If you are going to try to stick with your pedi try to get the first appointment of the day or the first appointment after lunch. Try to get in before they are backed up.

sleepy33 · May 2014

AmandagStark said:

That seems crazy to me! Have you spoken with the staff? "I am very fond of our doctor, but we will have to seek another professional because of the extreme wait time to see her".

I would deft do this, and if you do leave, make sure they know the reason why.

edaire · May 2014

@steph 13055‌ we always have an appointment. Never walk in. I know someone who used to work for her and she said she's a phenomenal doctor but her practice is way too big. Every time we've been it's been this way.

huntjul · May 2014

quartermisses said:

I would complain, ask if this is normal, and if they act like it is and you are being a brat, I would seek a new pedi. You might find out there was an emergency or something, though. So... a one-time thing I could maybe overlook.

While I may be willing to wait an hour routinely at my doctor (even though I'd rather not), I'm not going to do it at a pedi where I'm holding a baby around a bunch of sick kids. If you're really in love with the doc, you can ask the staff if there's a time of day she runs more on time (e.g. first appt in the AM) and schedule then. But for sick visits where you can't schedule out very far, you'll still end up with any old appt and having to wait.

I'm in the nope camp here.

klewis888 · May 2014

If you have an appt, that is way too long. The longest we have had to wait was about an hour and that was because we called the doc that morning to get DD in for a rash. That was understandable. Usually at our regular well baby checkups, it is only about a 10-15 min wait.

Jalee85 · May 2014

Depends on where you live. The children's hospital I went to when I was a kid always took that long.

edaire · May 2014

I think you ladies convinced me. It's time to switch. I've made comments before about the wait to the staff and they def make it seem like this is the norm. Thanks for the advice!

ballygirl · May 2014

That is too long to wait if you are only getting a few minutes with her. I sometimes have had to wait a long time (40-60 minutes) but we were in the exam room, not the waiting room and when the pedi does come in, she gives us as long as we want for questions and discussion. She even told us at the beginning that the reason she sometimes runs late is because she wants to give everyone as much time as they need with her so they never feel rushed. I really appreciate that. In those early days, we had a couple hour long appointments because we had so many questions about the twins. So, don't mind waiting so much if I know I'm going to get as much time as I need and I just plan ahead (bring toys, bottles etc). But if I was waiting that long and then felt rushed through a 5 minute appointment, I'd be pretty irked.

tashad18 · May 2014

I have never waited more than 10 minutes at our pediatrician with an appointment. It is insane to make someone wait that long, especially with a sick little one. Most doctors I know will cancel your appointment if you are 15 minutes late so I definitely feel I deserve to be seen within 15 minutes of my appointment time barring an emergency.

carawasa · May 2014

That's really annoying and I understand that doctors fall behind but an hour+ is a total inconvenience. maybe you can bring it up to the doc because the staff may be double booking her.

findingnemommy · May 2014

I agree that it's too long, but we also have a similar wait time

catycate · May 2014

Out practiced has gotten huge since DS was born and I hate the wait times. I dealt with it with 1 bc I loved the pedi but I ain't got time or patience to wait with 2, so I swtiched.

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