Choosing a Pediatrician - Christiana,TN

I am looking for someone that has same day sick appointments, is analytical like me (will look past their nose for the answer), will listen to me, answer all of my questions, and is not stingy with the antibiotics.

I want to be able to get in the same day on a sick-call, I don't want to sit in a waiting room for more than 15-20 minutes. Those are my 2 biggest complaints. I've left practices over those issues. The male/female thing doesn't bother me as long as they seem to actually LIKE kids. A waiting room and exam rooms that are designed with kids in mind are important. As far as having kids of their own, I never thought about it... my pedi has 2 kids, so I guess it makes him understand kids more? I don't know, maybe. I also think that having friendly front office staff is a plus -- people in the front office that you can relate to and you're comfortable with. You end up talking on the phone with them and the nurses quite a bit. So a good rapport with them is important too.

My current pediatrician does not have kids. This has made him pretty text book and judgmental. I didn't switch because I wanted to go to my closest Kaiser clinic and not drive 30 min for peds apointments. Frankly, I didn't much care for him at all, but when my baby got a UTI and he sent us to the hospital for I.V. antibiotics, boy did he nail it. After 5 days in the hospital and some testing, she was diagnosed with grade 5 (the worst) uritary reflux. So while I don't dig my pediatriation, he has proven to be on it clinically.
My first pediatrician for my first born I really liked. In retrospect she sabotaged successful BF by making me do a quantitative feeding (pump and bottle, no direct BF) for 5 days to figure out why babies weight was not advancing as it should be, thus measure all intake. After that baby only wanted bottle and refused the breast.
we all want to like the primary care doctor, but in the end I'll take clinical competency.

Mostly, I have used word of mouth and looked at online reviews. When I was looking for places here in El Paso, I started out by looking at the choices I was given by our insurance. From there, I started looking up reviews. Some of them had great Drs, but the office staff was apparently borderline evil, so that one went out the window. To me, a Dr is only as good as his staff. Finally, I came across one that had good reviews across the board, so I decided to give it a shot. I have been fantastically happy with them. I have seen the actually pediatrician only once, and actually realized I don't like him. I don't remember anything particularly bad, except maybe he seemed a tad judgemental (I have skinny kids). However, there is a PA that works for him that I absolutely LOVE. She's got common sense, great knowledge, and while she admits that my kids are on the low end of the weight charts, it's not like they're not growing, they just grow longer than they grow wide.

So, to sum up a very unnecessary tangent (sorry!) look at online reviews and ask neighbors, church acquaintances, etc for their recommendations.

I asked my obgyn who he sent his kids to. That rec. got us into a closed practice with a great dr!

We asked around and my step-sister-in-law took her kids to a guy they really liked and so did her (and later our) daycare lady. We met him at our DD's first appt after the hospital (someone else from their practice came to the hospital) and we really liked him. He went out of his way to educate himself on my husband's genetic issue and find out what sort of testing she might need. And he's been awesome ever since.

I totally recommend asking around to friends and seeing who they go to/like.

We are on pediatrician #2. Ped #1 came with a good recommendation from a friend that used him once (on an emergency basis) and liked him. At the time I didn't have any kids yet and didn't bother to interview any further. My daughter hated him. She was a very sensitive child from the get go and he was a big burly guy who didn't really understand that you had to approach her slowly. We would pass the hospital where his office was and she would start to scream. When I was preggers with #2 I decided I had to change to someone new. I wanted a female because I felt that my daughter would relate better to a female doctor (she was almost 3 at the time). I interviewed 2 and it really came down to, when they were sick, who would they see? One practice you saw whoever was available, and the other, they tried to get you in with the primary if possible. My daughter really likes the doc I chose (she is 9 now). My son likes her too. And hopefully #3 will too. We recently moved and I will still drive 25 minutes to see her. I am not wild about the office staff and all times and having to call and wait to get advice, but I like her, so I deal with it. I really didn't care about whether she had kids. I just cared about her personality and how she related with my kids (and it didn't hurt that her daddy is chief of peds at a major hospital, so I know if my kids get something weird she has someone to bounce ideas off of.).

The best pediatrician we ever went to, we found via a local parents' advice website. If there is anything like that in your area, read what other parents have to say about the various doctors. You'll see the same names come up again and again. I'd also interview your short list of doctors and find out what their procedures are for seeing sick kids (i.e. if your child wakes up in the morning really sick, are you going to be able to see your doctor right away, or are they going to refer you to the ER because they over-book scheduled visits?). I'd also ask some questions to find out how conservatively they treat patients. I tend to like doctors who will follow up over small concerns, before they become bigger concerns. For instance, our favorite pediatrician noticed a slight heart murmur in our older daughter, and rather than taking a wait-and-see approach, he referred us to a pediatric cardiologist to rule out any problems. That reassured me that he was taking our daughter's health very seriously, and wouldn't take any chances. However, there are other parents who may have preferred the wait-and-see approach. A lot of choosing a doctor is finding someone who is on the same page as you are. I don't think it's necessarily important if the doctor has any children themselves, but I do think personality is important - they have to understand where you're coming from, or it's not going to be a successful relationship. Good luck in your search. I hope you find a good doctor!

See if prospective pediatricians will interview you - if not, go elsewhere. Make sure there is another ped in the practice so you have back-up during vacations. No, I don't think they have to have their own kids - any experience with their own kids can be offset by a desire to do things with your kid that they do with their own. Not necessarily relevant. I don't think the gender matters much until the child is much older. My son saw a woman until his teens when he went to a sports med person due to his athletics. He was fine with it. I think the doctor's personality and your comfort level is a big part of it, and I think the child needs to feel the doctor is approachable. Reviews can be difficult because usually people who are happy don't bother to post reviews, while those with complaints do. And if you don't know the poster, you can't evaluate.

Having a good office staff helps, and knowing you can get to a nurse within a half hour is a big help for 75% of your questions. A good nurse can help you decide if an appointment is needed.

If you have a particular family issue or medical situation, you might want to see if the doctor has great experience in that area, but otherwise make sure it's someone you feel will listen and not rush you.