Questions to Ask During Interviews of Pediatricians

I'm a mom of two girls ages 11 and 12. I love our pediatrician. However, I am looking at changing because I can never get an appointment with our selected pediatrician but always end up with another doctor in her practice. I guess a good question to ask is if this will be a problem as your child gets older and you may have more urgent appts as your child progresses in age. Or, you can interview the other doctors in the practice and be sure you are comfortable with all of them.

"What's the procedure for non-office hour questions/issues? Will I see the ped. every visit, or will I mostly be with a nurse practicioner? What services do you offer in-house, and what will I be referred to specialists for (like x-rays)?"

Also, make sure you are comfortable with the support staff when you visit pediatricians. If the people who work the front desk and make appointments aren't friendly, you will be irritated with every visit and appt you have to make. Also, since a nurse will more than likely be the one weighing your child in and administering shots (this makes the doctor a not scary person for your child to see - Dr. is not hurtful, the nurse is!), you need to be comfortable with him/her as well. The nurse at our ped's office is very experienced, and is both reassuring and quick when giving shots. Something both me and kiddo appreciate.

Think of the things that are important to you or that might take you away from the norm like breastfeeding (if you're not going to will they give you a hard time) or vaccines (if you're not going to will they give you a hard time). How after hours care works and costs associated with that. How much you'll see the actual doctor vs. a nurse practitioner. (I personally prefer my nurse practitioner.) I wouldn't let whether the pediatrician visits your birthing hospital sway you in your decision. I knew which pediatrician I wanted and, even though she didn't come to our birthing hospital, the couple of days the baby is in the hospital being seen by staff pediatrician is nothing compared to a childhood of seeing your regular pediatrician. Good luck!

Here's a few, T.. "Do you have flexibility regarding the current vaccine schedule, or do you adhere to a strict one-size-fits-all policy? Do you actively support and encourage breastfeeding? Are you well-versed and tolerant of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)? Do you attempt to minimize the use of antibiotics?" These are some of the issues that parents and pedi's are butting heads about currently. Hope that helps.