Interviewing Pediatricians

I'd ask them why they became peditrcians.
What kind of 24 hour service they provide 7 days a week?

What is their specific day off? (they each have one during the week).

If religion is an issue, I asked that too!

I have never had to wait to see our peditrican or one of the other ones in the office the same day if I was seriously concerned. Otherwise I was the 1st patient on the next
day.

The other would be medication rules. Ours will not prescribe over the phone without seeing the child or even refills.(unless it was for an inhalor for asthma)

Unsolicated: We go to the Peachwood Pediatric Medical group, there are 6 pediatricians in there and they have all been wonderful.

Good luck!

If they accept your insurance. How to contact him in an emergency.

Hi, I have the most wonderful pediatrician for my daughter in the world. She is so knowledgable and loving. I thank god that we found her. I dont know where you are located but we live in the Easy Bay (Tri-Valley) area. If you are local let me know and I can give you her name.

If breastfeeding your baby is important to you, I'd ask how he/she plans to support your decision. I lucked out and our first ped (we moved) was an instructor for new doctors regarding breastfeeding so she was very passionate about it but even though most say it... not all peds are really supportive of bf'ing or have as much knowledge about it as they should. So if this is important to you, I'd look into that and under what circumstances they'd feel ready to supplement. Of course the other suggestions made have been good... But just observe their office and try to see if you feel comfortable there. Was the office staff friendly? When you're stressed and worried about your child's health, an unfriendly face is the last thing you want to see!
good luck!!

I too was "given" a pediatrician, and have been very happy with him!

One thing I have discovered is that LISTENING to what the doctor says is more important than any questions you can ask. How does he feel about dispensing medicine? Does he tell you to "wait and see" or is he prescribing meds for every little sniffle? What does he think about your child's development? About decisions you make for your child? Does he pay attention when you tell him your concerns, or does he just blow you off because "he's the doctor"?

As a first time mom, i was overly paranoid, convinced every odd behavior was the sign of something catastrophic. My son's doctor would listen to what i had to say, tell me his opinion, and would then order any tests that needed to be done to rule it out if i still disagreed. He really validated my role as parent and never made me feel incompetent. When we visit, he takes the time to actually review my son's file and will ask follow up questions.... and he always greets my son by name.

If you feel uncomfortable with the care your child receives, ask for a different doctor. You'll know when you've found the right one!

Congratulations and good luck!

Congratulations. My husband and I were not ready with a pediatrician when we had our daughter 2 weeks early, so they gave us the one on call that day. It was the best! he saw her from the minutes she was out and still is our wonderful doctor. Sometime you have to trust the timing of things and see how your daughter or son respond to him/her. A lot of crying is not good when you have to see your doctor, mine still doesnt cry during shots, just a little to show her discontent. If you need to have one, hopefully take someone with years of experience and not too dramatic!, you will need someone cold blooded that wont alarm you for every little thing so he/she gets payments for not necessary visits!

Something we did and worked well. My doctor gave us a list - I called and asked the main questions, office hours, weekend hours, After hours procedures, sick/healthy waiting room and mine also had a no appt necesarry hour before they opened up and an oncall nurse available - SO when I called to scheduled the meet and greet appoitment (as I call it) I asked the receptionist how she liked working there - who her favorite doctor was and she told me her her favorite was and I met that one and kept him! He was great! So asking the receptionist worked out pretty good for us! If the receptionist seem rather happy to assist you and seem like happy employees - that is another sign that the office is running well! :) AT least it did for us! :) Good luck! And have fun with a december baby!

~A.~

For me, it's important that my children's medical care provider respects the decisions I make for my children. I don't expect a doctor to wholeheartedly agree with me since we make non-traditional decisions; however, it is very important that a doctor respect the choices we've made and doesn't try to get us to change our minds. You should decide how you feel about the big issues - breastfeeding, vaccination, co-sleeping, etc. and then ask your doctor things like "IF a parent decides to delay vaccinations (or not vaccinate), what is your view on that.". Or knowing how long you plan to breastfeed for you can ask "What age to you recommend I breastfeed my baby to?". If you are planning on nursing for a year and the doctor says "Six months" then you can anticipate that after six months you may not get the same support or may even be discouraged from continuing to breastfeed. For me, it's also important that a doctor be prepared to have a discussion with me about my children's treatment and can see that I'm an intelligent parent who researches things and is willing to hear what I have already learned and believe could be a good option for treatment (since I lean towards homeopathic remedies and don't jump right to the allopathic answer). I don't want the type of doctor who assumes he or she is going to tell me what's wrong, give me a prescription and send me on my merry way. Hope that helps.

Ask about vaccinations: Does he/she insist that you do them according to the CDC schedule? Has he/she reported adverse events to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS)? What if your child has a vaccine reaction? Will the reaction be reported? Will the dr. discontinue vaccinating, at least with the vaccine to which your child reacted? Is it possible to delay or selectively vaccinate?
How often are antibiotics prescribed? Does the dr. prescribe antibiotics without even seeing the child?
Are appointment times flexible? Some drs. only see sick children in the morning and well children in the afternoon. It's a good idea, in theory. But if your child naps in the afternoon, then he/she will have to skip a nap to go to the dr. If your child gets sick in the afternoon, he/she will have to wait until the next day to see the dr. This happened to us.
Good luck!

Vaccinations, vaccinations, vaccinations.
I highly recommend reading The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears and/or some of Dr. Tenpenny's stuff.
And just be sure to find a doctor that you feel comfortable with. If a doctor makes you wait for hours, they are rude and not worthy of your business. If a doctor can't sit still to be present with you to answer your questions and make sure you get what YOU want as a parent, then don't give them your business. We MUST stand up for our rights and not let doctors take advantage of us. They DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING and it's our jobs to be educated about the issues that impact our children.
I hope you find someone great.
I am still searching!!!
(Anyone know of a good pediatrician near El Segundo?? The one here in town is a quack and another one i tried in Sepulveda had me waiting for over an hour TWICE, so forget her!!)
I just cannot have my children witness their mother being disrespected like that, so she will not be getting our business again. It's obnoxious!
Best of luck!
S.
____@____.com

I am due December 9th. : ) We finally picked our pediatrician and a couple of the questions I found really helpful were... Do they have a sick room and a well room? This was important to us. If we are going to a routine check up I don't want to expose our little girl to all the colds and illnesses of the sick kids there. (this was hard to find by the way)
Another one was what are the after hour protocols? Do they have a Dr. on call 24 hours you can ask questions of? I figure as 1st time parents this will save us alot of unwarranted trips to the E.R. or Urgent care. What is the docs policy if he is out of town? How many peds are available at the office?
What are the docs policies on vaccinations? Is he open minded or just goes by the book? Not sure if that is important to you, but it was to us.
Good luck and just remember you can always switch if you are not happy, it is not permanent. : )

i asked about their take on vaccinations. how available they were... if my children needed to be seen on a non-scheduled visit, what are the chances they'd see their doctor and not a sub?

I have been taking my kids to the same pediatrician for 16 years. The office has separate well/sick waiting rooms and a doctor is on call 24 hours. Also, if your child is sick, they will make time for you to be seen. They are also open on Saturday mornings (my kids always seem to get sick on the weekend). The office is La Mesa Pediatrics and they are located on Fletcher, the phone number is ###-###-####. I don't know if this is near you, but I thought I'd mention it.