What do you look for in a pediatrician?

[Pixiedust34]

I've been "shopping around" for a new pediatrician. Our original one, the one my kids have known since they were babies, left the practice. He never had a replacement come in, so were assigned to his partner. She was nice the few times we've seen her, though she's been on medical leave for months and there is no sign of her returning.

On Thursday I have an appt. to interview a pediatrician who is part of a new practice in our neighborhood. There are about 6-8 pediatricians there, which is a big jump from our 1 doctor in the current office. The location is great, and they have evening and Saturday hours. They all work at the hospital of our choice.

What kind of questions should I ask him? Should I mainly be looking for his quality of care and bedside manner? Is there anything specific I should want to know about his practice? Thank you!

 

[barkley]

with a larger practice i would ask if i selected them as my pcp for my children would that mean they would actualy be the pcp. some practices with multiple doctors assign a pcp for insurance purposes but then farm you out to whomever is available. i would check to see how after hours calls are handled-is it rotated among doctors or is one or two primarily responsible (and if i won't be speaking to my pediatrician to what extent they will have knowledge of/access to medical info. re my child (esp. if there may be an ongoing medical issue that may require me to have after hours contact).

i would ask what referal mechanisms they use (my current pediatrician has no qualms about doing an immediate referral outside the medical group to any specialist she deems appropriate-even if that specialty exists within her medical group) and how assistive they are in dealing with insurance issues.

evenings and saturdays are a great bonus, but i would check to see if they routinly keep some slots open for both on a daily basis for same day appointments (not much benefit if they book all the slots months in advance) and if they can be used for routine visits (some groups won't do regular exams or physicals during the high demand evening and weekend slots).

one other thing i might try is dropping by the office unannounced one afternoon and observing how the place seems to be run-is there a huge amount of parents/kids in the waiting room (indicates to me they may not be very good at sticking to appointment times)? you can always sit down for a bit and just observe the interaction of the office staff with the parents/kids, and i would even consider asking a few of the mom's there if they are happy with the doctors/service (i've had mom's of newborns ask me which pediatrician i was seeing while sitting in the waiting room, and they've asked me my opinion on one vs. the other).

good luck-i have a great pediatrician, i just wish she took grownups too!