Interviewing Pediatrician

Hi M.-
You should find out how many doctors are in the practice. The more doctors, the better chance you have of having someone on call 24/7. My former pediatrician wanted me to take my son who was 4 DAYS old to the hospital on Christmas Eve( I said NO WAY!) since his office was closed and he thought he MAY have a hernia because he was having trouble going to the bathroom. I changed his formula to soy (on my own) and that did the trick.
The new pediatrican I have is on call 24/7 and will meet you in the office if need be.
Good Luck and Congratulations!

There is an interview sheet listed on Babycenter which I found helpful.
Go to babycenter.com and enter pediatrician interview in the search box. It should come up. If not email me and I'll send you the link.

Good Luck!

Here is what I would ask:

1. Hours including the policy for after hours and weekend hours
2. How many vacations he or she takes in a year and who are the covering doctors
3. If there are multiple doctors in the practice - what is the procedure as to who you see and can you request to see a specific doctor
4. What is the policy for call backs during office hours
5. What is the sick visit policy / procedure. (i.e. do they leave a certain number of appts open for sick visits every day
6. How far in advance do you need to book a well visit
7. Policy on referrals, filling out of school forms and if there is a charge
8. If you have multiple kids - will they book one appt or back to back appts for all of them
9. Pose a hypothetical and ask them if you were bringing one child for a well visit and you other child all of a sudden became ill - would the doctor take a look at the sick child while you were already there.

Good Luck

M. - I took a very different approach so I will tell you what I did and if you decide to go this route, good luck and let me know what happens!

Once I narrowed down my list of potential docs/practices, I called the offices ahead of time to find out the simple stuff like office hours, what happens in case of emergency what are the hours etc... all the stuff you don't want to ask the doctor(s) when you get in front of him/her. I wanted to make the most of that face time so I weeded out as much as I could via the office staff by phone. You won't have a ton of time with the docs so make the most of it by getting that simple stuff out of the way.

I made appts to talk to the docs (if this is difficult to accomplish this could be a hint of the attention you will get as a patient). I arrived about 20-30 minutes early to each appt, so that I could wait in the waiting room for a while, and WATCH the office in action. How long did people wait to be seen? How friendly did the office staff seem to be to the waiting families? Did it appear to be a well oiled machine in progress or were people huffing and puffing about the wait, the service etc... You will also have a chance to talk to a few moms/dads in the waiting rooms, ask them how they like the practice/doctor(s). You may learn more in the waiting room that you will ever get from the staff/doc.

Are there two waiting rooms - one for those feeling sick and one for those feeling ok for well visits? They should be separate especially for babies visiting for a simple well visit.

Most doctors are expecting you to drop them the abundance of questions that all the 'expecting' books have ingrained in us to ask. Instead of asking those, off the bat I told my pediatrician I really only had one question. I asked my Ped to explain to me why I should choose their practice over any other. That will take them off guard and they will have to sell YOU on their practice. They will have to earn your trust as a patient. It changes the way they will see you as a parent, I assure you.

When I did this, the doc I ended up going with asked me at the end of our meeting "Will you choose our practice?"
Then he told me he never asked anyone that before! He said he felt like he was being interviewed for a job and I said in a sense he was!

You want the doctors to tell you why they are the docs who will care for your child the best. It is afterall an honor you are granting them to take care of your kids. You shouldn't feel like they are doing you the favor for letting you come in and pay for treatment/services!

Good luck!

i know one thing important to me was separate sick and healthy waiting areas..

I like my pediatrician because he always listens to me. He is always available to see my children within a reasonable amount of time and is not quick to prescribe medications to illnesses that don't require them.
I think that I would feel the doctor out to see if he/she listens to you. I would ask how busy the office is and how far in advance that you will need to make appointments. Does the doctors office have an after hours nurse - or what happens if you need the doctor at 3am. I'd ask the doctor how he/she feels about antibiotics and when to prescribe them (some doctors give perscriptions because moms want something not necessarily because they are needed)
Hope this helps...good luck.

You want to make sure they share the same philosophies you do about healthcare and child development issues. For instance, immunizations, breastfeeding, formula feeding, co-sleeping, etc.

Also you need to ask about their emergency service and how many dr.s are on-call & available. Most medical emergencies seem to happen at the end of the day, in the middle of the night, or on a Sunday, so this is very important.

Do they have privileges at your preferred hospital?

Most important, you need to feel comfortable there with the support staff as well as the dr.s.

Always ask top most for the schedule, after hours, weekends, and what happens after hours? Ask how they feel about perscription drugs? Are they giving your child drugs for every little thing including the sniffles? Ask about breastfeeding (don't know if you ae planning on or not) I had interviewed a Dr. that told me that is the only way to feed, and that he disapproved of any other way. (didn't go with that guy)LOL I also asked about time....How much time are you going to spend with me and my child in the office. I know of a lot of Dr.s who try to get through the exam and spend no more than 7 minutes with each child and would make sure all the kids were scheduled 10 minutes apart. Now me.....I am a first time mom so I ask a lot of questions over every little thing, so I want a dr. who will take that time with us, without trying to rush right out of the room.
Hope this helps

I would certainly want to know if they will accomodate you in another waiting area when your infant is just born. The last thing you want with a newborn is to be sitting in a general waiting area with a bunch of sick kids. Most offices know people want this option and most will tell you yes we'll do it.. but try to gauge the attitude about it. Also, you should go with a big enough group that if your baby's doc is out that someone else can easily accomodate. And you want to know that they are going to be accomodating if/when your child is sick and you have to bring them in. Best wishes, N

I never interviewed the doctors prior to having my daughter...instead I talked to a few pediatric nurses at the local hospital and listened to their suggestions--truly a great perspective to have!!!

For me, a factor was office location too. One of the top recommendations was for a doctor that was 25 minutes away and a close 2nd recommendation was a group of doctors 5 minutes from my home. I chose the close-to home group and I have been happy with my choice because when my daughter has been sick I think nothing of packing her up and taking her around the corner or when she leaves the office in tears from shots I know we will be home shortly. And with there being a group of doctors (about 7)--I have seen each one so that if my child is ever in the hospital I will know the doctor on call. One night I had to be patched through to a doctor's house after hours and I knew exactly who I was talking to.

keep in mind that office staff changes, doctor schedules change, but a doctor's bedside manner and willingness to be thorough doesn't!

The first day I walked in to the doctor's office I was filling out paperwork and another mother was standing there next to me who told me, "these guys are really good-all of them!" and that was reassuring too! Maybe you need another post asking for recommendations of pediatricians in your area?

Hi there. I used the pediatrician interview checklist on babycenter.com. It was very helpful and my husband and I both asked questions from it. It was very important to me that I used someone that was highly recommended, good credentials, personable, and took the time to answer any questions or concerns that I may have(without rushing me out of the office). I found a great pediatrician for my 18 month old daughter only to hear that she is relocating to the west coast in February 2009 and now I have to start the interviewing process all over again. She is the best pediatrician in my town and has been seeing my daughter since she was born. Some pediatricians also set aside "interviewing time" so you can get to know them. Good luck!

M. -

You got a lot of great responses and questions to ask - just thought I would suggest a couple of things. ONE - go with your gutt!! Walk in the office, use all your sences and see/hear/smell what it is all about. Your child/ren will be more 'H.' there if YOU are. See how the office is with you calling <prompt/ courtious/ etc> nothing is more disconserning if the office is not 'in touch' with their parents and you have an 'issue' and get put on hold and hold and switched from person to person.

ALSO - usually you are able to set up an interview appt. to meet and greet with the doctor. DO IT!! TAKE YOUR TIME - go early - see how the others are treated and how the staff treats patients / children/staff etc. THIS is the office for you child, should be VERY child friendly - or you are in the WRONG place.
As I did for setting up childcare - come back on a different day / different time - see how the office is early and then again later......some office schedule to see all the 'new' ones and prep the office to be 'ready' - your child/ren don't get sick on 'schedule'..........

BEST of luck to you and your family. :o)

Everyone gave great advice to ask the doctor and I totally agree, however I would ask other mommy's in your area where they go, how they like it and so on...that's how to get the real scoop...especially if you are having a hard time deciding between two...the great thing about being pregnant is that everyone has advice so you can talk to anyone, anywhere and they'll tell you what they think...go to the doctor and ask questions, but ask the mom's in the waiting room and on the street...how is their bedside manner...and so forth...I had a great peditrican, but when he walked into the room and my 16month old said "Hi Dr. Jones" and he didn't even respond to it I was totally turned off, now I have a peditrican who will let the little ones sit in my lap while they do the exam and they say hello to the kid first and then to the mom and my child is getting the same medical care...of course I guess it also depends on what is important to you as well...good luck and congrats!

I asked all kinds of questions like:
1. What are their hours?
2. What is his/her on-call process like? Are they prompt at calling right back?
3. What are his/her feelings on vaccines being linked to autism, and would they allow me to scatter vaccines instead of doing them all at once.
4. Do they plan on moving/retiring anytime soon? (I had that happen, loved our pediatrician but he was older and ended up retiring just a few months after baby was born.)

Hope that helps!
Lynsey

I agree with all the screening questions . They are important. But the most revealing question I asked was :

A a first-time Mom, if there is something going on at 3 Am, and I'm just comfortable, what should I do?"

Most said something along the lines of: call the office, and the on-call will get back to you to either go to an ER or wait for office hours. Ok that sounded alright, but the pediatrician I chose told me something I'll never forget...He said "New moms know more than they think they do. If you think something is wrong at 3 AM, then call me! That's what I"m here for. When I became a pediatrician, I knew two things .. First, I'd never get rich and second, I'd never get much sleep. Always call me, and I'll meet you in the office if we need to do that."

All else being equal,, that was the guy I wanted to work with. He's in Rockland County if you'd like a referral.

I would ask about the hours that you can call if you just have a question and how they handle emergencies. My pediatrician is great because they have weekend hours and they will also come in if they're closed. I can call any time of day if I just have a question and they answer me quickly. Some pediatricians have call hours so you can only talk to them at that time. I don't know where you live but I recommend Dr. Amler, Dr. Levine, or Dr. Schwartz. They're in White Plains but they're worth traveling for!

I found some good questions both online and in some of my baby books like What to Expect When You are Expecting and Your Pregnancy Week by Week.