My wife and I have a little Wolverine on the way due end of March and are in the process of looking into choosing a pediatrician. The question for the board is what do you guys look for in a good pediatrician? We would prefer a doctor who works exclusively with children, and has children of their own, but not sure what else we should be looking for. We both grew up in Michigan and currently live in the Bay Area.
Bachelor's Degree. Atleast.
check,
thanks for the awesome advice.
Awesome advice would be to
Awesome advice would be to keep the health of your children out of the hands of a sports blog forum.
Says
Says the guy who is asking pediatrician advice from bloggers who have an almost nightly "What are you drinking?" thread.
Are you implying that drunks
Are you implying that drunks shouldn't be giving advice?
Best?
The best is to look for referrals. Everything else is a poor indicator of a good doctor.
neoavatara.com/blog
This is not a complaint about
This is not a complaint about this being OT, but you will get much much better responses on a parenting board that has a Bay Area section. As stated above, you want referrals. If you don't know a lot of people with kids in the area, that's the best way to get referrals.
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Look for a Certificate of
Look for a Certificate of Aunthenticity.
"Are you an official here?Because you've officially given me a boner."
Really, if the pediatrician
Really, if the pediatrician doesn't have DRM included, don't even bother. For all you know, you might be getting a pirated version of a doctor, and after all, Home Taping is Killing Medicine.
"The straightest line from A to B is straight: From A to B"
"When you have Denard Robinson, you can have everything"
~George Walden
Make sure
He has a large bushy mustache, wears short shorts, and is always smiling. Oh, hairy legs too, like unusually hairy.
Referrals. Totally agree.
Referrals. Totally agree. Have any doctor friends? Ask them who is best or who they take their kids to. They have a fast communication network.
Also, I try to find out how "prescription happy" the doctor is when we start. Some seem to give antibiotics for everything. Kind of freaks me out.
"Are you Bluish? You don't look Bluish..."
Yeah, referrals are a bit
Yeah, referrals are a bit hard as none of our friends have kids, and our new pregnant friends from baby class are kind of in the same boat as we are. We definately want a doctor who is judicious about prescribing drugs, so that's certainly important to us.
Prescription Unhappy too
My daughter had a UTI when she was only a few months old. Even though she exhibited all the signs of a UTI the DR insisted on a lab speciman. In a child that young that means a catheter since they can't deliver the specimen. It was so painful for my daughter that two of the nurses were crying.
I understand antibiotic overprescription, but that was uncalled for IMHO.
Anyway, I'd go with referrals if that is in any way an option. I'm not 100% a pediatrician is even required if you're comfortable with your family doctor and your child doesn't have any issues.
good luck. Being a parent is the best thankless/payless job in the world.
Ask neighbors
Around you. Pick a pediatrician who works only with kids. Our pediatrician graduated from UM, so that was good.
Denard Robinson......They're not going to catch him!
Nice, we already crossed off
Nice, we already crossed off the USC doctor, though maybe we should reconsider. It would be fun to talk shit about the tire fire that is Lane Kiffen's upcoming season at USC.
Pediatrician?
Please excuse my ignorance but I'm only a PhD, so I may be unqualified here, but the very definition if a pediatrician is a physician who works exclusively with children. Am I missing something?
My only advice, make sure your doctor wasn't home schooled.
You're correct
The OP said he's looking for a pediatrician but then opened up the possibility of a Family Practice doc. Not a bad option if you live in a small town but I have a feeling SF is rife with pediatricans.
Keep your stick on the ice.
Which Bay Area?
If it's Bay City, I may be able to help; my wife works with health care providers in the Tri-Cities. If it's San Francisco, you're on your own.
Thanks, but yeah I mean San
Thanks, but yeah I mean San Francisco Bay Area, the one with 7.5 million people.
Well
The bad news is that I can't help. The good news I that you weren't hit by the meteor yesterday. So, glass half-full.
double post
sorry...
Find one that looks smart.
Find one that looks smart. And make sure you talk to her/him i'm person, you don't want to get catfished
Coach Hoke once told me that a moral victory is still a (expletive deleted) loss.
Ask staff at the hospital. Staff comes into close contact
with a lot of the pediatricians -- not just your OB/GYN. Also, your OB/GYN can be a great referral source.
Make sure you know what selection criteria are most important to you, and don't be afraid to ask questions. Do you care most about the MD's (or OD's) academic credentials, certifications, experience, size of practice, accessibility, proximity, etc. . . Also, you may want to pay for a couple visits to different pediatricians to "interview" them. You are likely going to be visiting them for years, so a small initial investment can be valuable in making sure you are happy with an important relationship for you and your child.
Also, you may want to choose a practice that uses Pediatric Nurse Practioners in addition to Pediatricians. The PNPs can likely take more time with you and your child when you make office visits.
Your opinion has no value.
It's not only where the
It's not only where the pediatrician went to med school, but where did they do their training. Because a med school is well known, it doesn't automaticlly follow that they have a great pediatrics program.
You also need to see who else is in the practice and how they are credentialed. For well baby care, you will se your doc, but when your little one gets sick in the middle of the night, you typically get the doc covering call.
From my perspective, I'd also like someone who has been practicing for a while. Experience is a great teacher.
If you can find some other docs with young kids, ask who they use, as docs know these things.
Congrats on your new arrival.
The staff ethically cannot
The staff ethically cannot make recommendations. Now if you have personal friends who work at a hospital, they can help you. But staff should not be giving you that kind of guidance.
Servant. Pastor. Husband. Michigan fan in Duluth.
Everyone is saying referrals,
Everyone is saying referrals, so another suggestion: education. You can usually find their degrees through a simple web search (or their webpage, if they have one). While it's not a surefire indicator, it's always nice to see B.S. U of Chicago, M.D. Northwestern, instead of Eastern Illinois and USF.
"It would be a travesty, it would be ridiculous to all of a sudden come back and get the feeling back, get the health back, feel good again and then all of a sudden go throw some other colors on my shirt and go coach."
Are you inferring
That a DO from MSU is unacceptable?
Good with kids
Veterinarian would be
Better for a "little Wolverine"
Once you get referrals, You
Once you get referrals, You should meet with prospective peds prior to having the baby to make sure you are comfortable with them and you like their practice, bedside manner, and views.
Perhaps I'm a little jaded by being in NYC, but some practices are just factories where you feel like a piece of cattle and others you rarely see the doctors and are mostly seeing nurses, so meeting them ahead of time will give you a feel for the practice.
Referrals
Referrals are great, but you also want to make sure this person takes the time to answer questions. I have found we see my son's peditrician far more than I ever see my doctor, and his doctor takes the time to answer our questions without appearing to be in a hurry to run to another patient. In other words, he treats us like people rather than a paycheck.
Ask lots of questions during your interview with him/her. Should also ask if they have an area of subspeciality (diabetes, etc.). Find out what they think about the things that matter to you and your wife and make sure you are all like minded.
One other for instance: my wife and I weren't fans of giving our son 5 immunization shots in one session. He was very understanding and said he had no problem doing whatever we wanted to do. I think we ended up spreading it out over a period of months, which was his suggestion in the end.
Hope this helps. Good luck with your little Wolverine. Go Blue.
Those who stay will be champions.
In addition to getting
In addition to getting referrals as others have mentioned, ask those who provide referrals about the entire practice, not just one doctor. Doctors have days off, and when junior needs to be seen right away, he might just be seen by another doctor in the practice. Also, even the best doctor with a crappy nurse or receptionist can make visits less than pleasant.
In Addition To Referrals...
One thing that has always been helpful for us - and one of the reasons we really like our pediatrician in Ann Arbor - is a friendly office staff that responds in a timely manner and good availability, including Saturday hours, as our kids have a tendency to present bugs at awkward times of the day and night. Ours even has a paging service that is 24/7, so if we needed to do so, we could at least talk to someone. I would ask about things like this as well.
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The easiest thing to do
The easiest thing to do (depending if you have time of course) is to interview them. Talk to the OB's, ask where they send their kids. Then interview the pediatricians and see who you like. Some people want a male/female doc based on if they have a boy/girl. It makes a difference in terms of comfortability with your child but may not matter if you have more than one kid and one of each gender. Also, parenting style is a huge thing. If you are against vaccines find a pediatrician who's okay with that. If you want to space out vaccines find someone who is okay with that. You want to breast feed until your kid is 13, it'll be tough but find a doc who's not going to give you a hard time about it. It's not an easy task but a very important one, a little time now will save you a ton of headache later.
/pediatric resident in detroit.
Edit: also ask if they have residents/medical students. It may not matter to you but it certainly matters to some parents and can definitely add time to most visits if they are present.
Pediatricians against vaccines?
Hopefully these are not the attendings in your training program!
I'm all for freedom of choice but there is this thing called herd immunity.
/M.D. who only works with big 'uns
Keep your stick on the ice.
None of the attendings I work
None of the attendings I work with are against vaccines as far as I know. I have seen one "excuse" a family from their practice for refusal to vaccinate which is why I brought it up. If a parent is against vaccines and has no interest in hearing the benefits etc then they are not going to have a good relationship with their doc and that's no good. Like I said, I'll avoid the arguments regarding vaccines (despite the bait further down the thread) and just say I'm 100% for vaccines and the vast majority of docs I know are as well...but it is certainly an issue that can cause friction.
General advice
Regarding referrals
It's funny everyone is mentioning referrals from friends. When my daughter was born, she wasn't gaining weight the first few weeks and we were getting very concerned. Our pediatrician (highly recommended by friends of ours) was absolutely terrible at supporting our concerns or taking us seriously. Their response was, "oh she'll be fine! Sure your wife is having terrible problems nursing, but she'll be fine!" We thankfully thought better and switched pediatricians immediately and were given amazing support and a workable plan from our now current pediatrician.
Lesson learned: everyone thinks their doctor is the best. Your experience may differ! I work in a Children's hospital now, and frankly it is kinda terrifying how bad half the doctors really are. Their patients really don't know any better.
Not all referrals are equal. You will note that many of the
posts suggesting referrals are not suggesting referrals from friends, but referrals from other heathcare professionals who are in a position to form an educated opinion.
Your opinion has no value.
Heh
The referral was from our friend who is a pediatric cardiologist.
If you trust your ob that
If you trust your ob that would be the first person to ask (for specific doctors). You should look for someone who takes what the parents say seriously. Some doctors think they are above you and know what is best for your child. Also someone who communicates well with you.
Not that I loved Rich Rod less, but that I loved Michigan more.
This is good advice. We
This is good advice. We would have ended up at the right doctor in the first place if we had listened to the OB recommendation in the first place.
I second this advice. Our
I second this advice. Our pediatrician (whom my husband went to high school with) can be somewhat condescending, and makes me feel stupid for having any concerns at all. I know they listen to nervous parents all day long, but that's why they're doctors - to listen to people's concerns, which actually may be legitimate. So, find someone who you feel listens to you. Doctors don't know everything, and they should listen to parents, who know their kids best.
There's a time and a place for spontaneity.
I'm sure their are boards in
I'm sure there are boards in the Bay Area that would be better places to get info.
That said, find folks that have similar values and philosophies about medical treatment. Our initial pediatrician was recommended to us by everyone, but had far too many patients. He was hard to to get in touch with and always seemed rushed. Most people love him. He actually recommended our current pediatrician. We had an honest talk with him and he pointed us in the right direction.
It's all about what you want. Our current pediatrician respects our views, but provides us with her expect opinion. She likes to space out vaccines and we can come in and get them without copays between visits. We feel really involved in the decision making and she spends a lot of time with us during our visits.
We have other friends that go to large practices where they see a different doctor every time. They love that practice based on the hours they are open and the ease of getting appointments.
I don't think I answered your question at all.
Thanks, actually I liked
Thanks, actually I liked reading about your experience. I know this isn't necesarrily the best place to ask this, but my fellow mgobloggers have had great advice.
In all honestly, it is about
In all honestly, it is about finding a good fit. It's a relationship that is going to span nearly two decades.
Sick/Well portions of the office
Some pediatricians have their waiting room divided into 2 sections - one for the sick kids and one for the healthy ones (since you bring your child in under both circumstances). This IS NOT more important than the points made by others on referrals; alignment with your philosophy on tests and shots; or competence of office and staff. But it is something that we have always appreciated when our pediatrician as had it. Also, avoid places that loop the same 14 year old episode of Barney in the waiting room. On occassion it has lead to unfortunate episodes of violence.
Second this.
Our ped has healthy kid hours and sick kid hours, and they sanitize in between. Not the most important thing, but it's a point in the plus column.
Look for someone that stayed
Look for someone that stayed at a holiday inn express last night, that should take care of qualifications.
Ask the nurses in the maternity ward for referrals
Ask the nurses in the maternity ward for referrals. Nurses observe how pediatricians interact with a wide range patients on a daily basis and can be more objective than parents.
Bachelor's Degree. At least.