What Would You Ask Your Pediatrician-to-be?

[Vanna]

Hello,

 

Now that we're pretty much settled into our new state, I'm trying to find a new pediatrician. I've been offered a "consultation" before having an official appointment, so... I was curious to know, what would you ask?

 

Because a friend of mine has had a bad experience with her pediatrician regarding homeschooling, I plan to ask this dr. how he feels about homeschoolers. I also want to ask how he feels about taking my children as his patients w/o their health records from the previous dr. This is because the old doc wants to charge $45 to copy and send the records (that's $15/kid). I call this robbery and I won't pay it.

 

TIA!

[Alenee]

I'd ask how he/she treats a fever...is he/she antibiotic crazy? Meaning do they treat everything under the sun with an antibiotic? Does he/she support non-vaccinating? If you are on the other end of any of these, you might want to look elsewhere. I've never had any issues with out ped. I picked him out of a list. His name is Stephen Miller. I LOVE the Steve Miller Band so I figured with a name like that he couldn't be that bad! :lol: But I know others who've had major issues with their docs over belief systems. I'd start there.

[Kay in Cal]

I don't remember where I got this list originally... but I've used it when choosing a pediatrician in the past.

 

 

Some interview questions are designed as much to give you information as to help you decide whether you are compatible and comfortable with this person.

Here are some interview questions to get you started:

1. What are the office hours? Do you have evening or Saturday hours?

2. If I called for a routine visit right now, how soon could I be seen?

3. How much time is allowed for a routine visit?

4. Will you or other physicians/nurses in the practice discuss health problems over the phone? Do you charge for such "telephone time?"

5. What happens if I have an emergency outside of office hours?

6. Are you a member of the health plan I belong to?

7. Does my health plan provide you with financial incentives?

8. How must I pay for care?

9. Will my child see you each time we have an appointment, or will other physicians in the practice see him/her?

10. If my child needs hospitalization, which hospital will he/she be admitted to?

11. How do you feel about obtaining a second opinion?

12. What is your medical training and where did you go to medical school?

13. Are you board certified in your specialty?

 

Questions of philosophy

It's important to have a healthcare provider you feel comfortable with -- after all, this person will be making important decisions about your child. Here are some additional topics you might want to bring up during the interview, focusing on how he or she gels with your philosophy.

 

• What are your views on breastfeeding?
  
• What are your views on homeschoooling?
  
• When do you recommend starting solid foods?
  
• Do you recommend circumcision?
  
• What are your thoughts on vaccinations?
  
• How often do you prescribe antibiotics?

Overview and assessment

After the interview, it's time to take stock of what you learned. Make some notes and consider a few more topics, including:

 

• Do you have a compatible philosophy on medical care?
  
• How do your personalities and styles of handling situations mesh?
  
• Do you feel comfortable with this person making healthcare decisions for your child?

[Alice]

Hello,

 

 

Because a friend of mine has had a bad experience with her pediatrician regarding homeschooling, I plan to ask this dr. how he feels about homeschoolers. I also want to ask how he feels about taking my children as his patients w/o their health records from the previous dr. This is because the old doc wants to charge $45 to copy and send the records (that's $15/kid). I call this robbery and I won't pay it.

 

TIA!

 

 

I'm a pediatrician. We get new patients all the time without records but if the kids have any kind of medical issues it makes it more difficult to provide good care without the past records. Even with something like frequent ear infections it can be helpful to know how freqent in the past they were. If your kids have been pretty healthy it's probably not a big issue.

 

I would ask your old doctor of they can copy only the growth chart and shot records (if you vaccinate). Those are the most important for a new doctor to have. If you vaccinate and keep your own records, then you don't need the shot records as much but if you need any form filled out ever (including for college) the new doctor is going to need those.

[Karen sn]

 

• What are your views on breastfeeding?

• What are your views on homeschoooling?

• When do you recommend starting solid foods?

• Do you recommend circumcision?

• What are your thoughts on vaccinations?

• How often do you prescribe antibiotics?

Overview and assessment

 

 

WOW. These are mine in a nutshell.

I also want to say to the poster - now I can't remember who you are - that I think by law he can't charge that much to send them. I am thinking that a fax to your new doctor wouldn't cost anything. And really - you should have copies of important papers yourself. I like to keep all copies of any blood work that I have done. That way I can compare future lab values to my old ones if I need to.

[Lisa in Jax]

Vanna,

 

I like Kay's list of questions, but I'd add one caveat. On non-medical issues (such as homeschooling), I wouldn't care what s/he thinks. It's nice if s/he's supportive, but it's not imperative. I just don't "go there" if the doctor and I disagree on *non-medical* topics. On issues of medicine (vaccination, antibiotics, etc.), it's more important that you agree philosophically. The meeting should help you gauge personality style and medical perspective. Is s/he dogmatic and pushy? If so, disagreements about non-medical issues may be a problem. Is s/he holistic or more traditional? If the doc matches your style, the "outside" stuff may not ever come up.

 

For medical records: you may be able to get copies of your claims from the insurance company. This won't give you the doctor's notes, but it will give you a chronological history of issues for which you've seen the doc. Or, ask the new doctor to ask your old doc for records. The old doc may be willing to send them to the new doc for a lower copy fee.

 

IMHO, $15 per child isn't that much if this doc has years' worth of records. Copying costs the doctor money, both in staff time and in copier costs. Would they be willing to copy all three kids' records for one "copy" fee? It's worth asking...

 

With each new doctor, you might want to keep your own records. I have a notebook with dates, treatments and lab results. If you create your own "mom" file, you don't have to ask for the whole file at once the next time you move. Our pediatrician gives me a copy of any lab results, etc., when we receive the results from her. I keep these in a file, so that I could recreate most of my kids' medical records if I had to do so w/o the pediatrician's files.

 

HIH,

 

Lisa

[dirty ethel rackham]

Great list! Some further questions to dig deeper based upon my experience with some bad pediatricians.

 

1. Every pediatrician will say "Breast is best." But the degree at which peds support it will vary widely.

Do they have a Lactation Consultant on staff or do they refer to one? When do they recommend weaning? How do they respond to breastfeeding problems? They easy answer is to recommend formula. However, those who value breastfeeding will be willing to look for solutions that will preserve the breastfeeding relationship and will refer out to those who have more expertise. Those who don't value it are quick to blame every issue on breastfeeding and will recommend weaning.

 

2. On asking about the antibiotics - the common answer is "only when necessary." The followup question is "How often do you find them necessary?"

 

3. I would ask how they feel about giving parenting advice. Some docs love to give parenting advice that masquerades as medical advice. Last I checked, parenting was not a course taken in med school, but may just come from their own beliefs.

[Annie Laurie]

 

• What are your views on breastfeeding?

• What are your views on homeschoooling?

• When do you recommend starting solid foods?

• Do you recommend circumcision?

• What are your thoughts on vaccinations?

• How often do you prescribe antibiotics?

 

 

Those are my biggies. We went through three pediatricians because of these issues.

[Vanna]

I've been taking good notes.

 

Lisa, I agree w/ you that $15 per child copy fee is not a lot to ask -- I just find it unjust:). I have other things I want to do w/ my $45. My insurance company has paid this dr and staff plenty and I've paid $15 and $30 copay each year for well-, visits (b/c the old dr would see no more than 2 children from the same family per day, I had to make two appointments for my 3rd child to be seen). We met another ped. recently that said although she does charge copying fees she thought $15 per kid was a bit much.

 

Thankfully, my children are the healthiest I know -- never a broken bone, ear infection, hospitalization (one very minor hernia surgery when oldest dc was 2, he's now 10.5) by God's grace. We vaccinate, but I have chosen to delay some of them and I do have my own vaccination cards that I brought to each vaccination visit.

 

I feel that I *have to* ask the new doc about homeschooling because it'll probably come up (what school do you go to?:lol: is usually one of the first questions any ped. has asked my kids).

 

I'm still a bit nervous about the consultation (tomorrow) and I definitely need to pray about it, but I am grateful for all of you taking the time to share with me your thoughts and advice.

[babybryte]

Great list!

 

Definitely ask about homeschooling....I love ours, but I don't think he's really pro-homeschooling. He laughed when I said we were going to homeschool.. :confused:

 

 

 

 

Jacquelyn

[abbeyej]

Others have given you great suggestions...

 

One other that I might ask is, "Do you find that mothers tend to overreact to their children's symptoms? How would you respond if a mother brought you her child feeling that something was 'wrong', but without an obvious diagnosis?"

 

I guess I'm not even sure how to word this... But my experience with *one* of my children has been that twice now something was terribly wrong, but the doctor didn't take my concerns seriously until things got very serious. These were two different doctors, and two different issues (though I believe they may be related in some way), but in both cases the doctor *could* and *should* have diagnosed ds much sooner -- if only they had listened to my concerns instead of deciding I must be a neurotic mother. ;) (Who knows, maybe they do see a lot of neurotic mothers, but in these cases ds went through pain, suffering, danger of long-term effects or possible death, not to mention tremendous [to us at least!] medical bills that could have been largely avoided.)

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

One of the things that I like the most about our pediatrician is that they have a nurse call number. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've called to see if the girls need to go in. Thankfully, most of the time they say, "Oh that sounds like a virus that's going around. Next you can expect _______. In about 2 days, your other one will probably start showing symptoms, too. [Do this], and call us if it's not showing signs of going away by _______ or if there is any ________." This has been an invaluable service because my husband doesn't have to leave work (we only have 1 car), we're not paying the copay, and we're not spending extra gas to get there.

 

And about the medical records, in the future you can ask for copies of a few things each time you go in. For example, if one of your kids has a broken bone, when you go for your followup you can ask for copies of the records pertaining to the broken bone. I have found that they usually won't charge if they're just making copies of a couple of pages. It's if you want the entire file copied that it gets expensive for them. And honestly, you probably don't need every piece of paper that's in there, just the highlights, mostly pertaining to any meds that were given or procedures performed.

 

Good luck!

[justme]

this is a great question for you to ask and I think you've gotten some good responses. I often find myself wondering how we got to the point where doctors feel they are in the position to give lectures, pass judgement and influence parenting styles/decisions. They are MEDICAL doctors and therefore paid (quite well, I might add) to provide MEDICAL care. It really infuriates me to hear about arguments over breastfeeding, homeschooling and vaccinating. I guess vaccinating at least falls more into the realm of medicine vs. parenting, but it still is ultimately a parental decision and I disagree with them being heavy handed and punitive of the parents' ultimate decision regarding it.

[Rosie_0801]

We only see a regular GP, not a pediatrician, but I go by attitude. Our current one did our dd's 10 day check, then told me he'd see me when I'd had the next one. That's the kind of doctor I like. One who asks me what I want/ what I think the problem , answers questions- particularly those "what for?" sorts of questions, and otherwise leaves me alone. Someone who doesn't treat me like an idiot, basically.

In my opinon, there are only two reasons to do what a doctor tells you. The first, because you think they are right. The second, you have no idea what is right, so have to trust them. If they are happy to answer your question and explain why they are doing what they are doing, then I'm happy. At least they have a reason. I refuse to see anyone a second time if they try to scheme ways to charge me extra, or if they behave as though they have rights to knowledge about my body and I don't.

I'm curious though, about the homeschooling issue. Why does anyone care what the ped's opinion on education is? It's not at all relevent to their physical health.

Rosie

[Vanna]

Hi again folks,

 

So glad others have joined in the discussion. I'm sorry I read your comments post-visit, but all very good, thank you so much.

 

So, l went in for that consultation today. I could tell a few things about him/the practice just sitting in the waiting room. First, the doc is a "die-hard" Red Sox fan (this is not a bash, this is just an observation, let me state for the record that I'm really nobody's fan, but have been immensely harrassed by Red Sox fans to become like them since we moved to New England, hee, hee). And secondly, they are totally into vaccinations and will push for them. I don't mind that either. I've dealt w/ other docs and when I feel my child can use a certain vaccination, that's when s/he will get it.

 

Those suspicions were confirmed in our talk. A lot of my other questions (and some of your suggested ones) were answered with info on the their office's website (that was super-helpful). He was satisfied with my vaccination records and mentioned that our state makes vaccination records available for free and that my previous state and/or doc might too (yay!). This is good for us parents to know. He had his office fax over a request to release those *free* immunization records. If they don't send it, then new-doc's office will attempt to get them through the state of the old doc.

 

Oh, and excellent suggestion on asking for copies for a "broken bone" and keeping your own records -- good one!

 

Overall, I think the consultation went well -- until he jokingly (half-jokingly??:001_huh:) said, "We require all of our patients to be Red Sox's fans." Thinking about it now, it's quite funny. I think for our first visit we should wear all of our NY Yankees gear:D.

 

Wow! I feel I learned so much from sharing this experience with you all. Thanks again!

[Mommy2BeautifulGirls]

Glad to hear it went well for you!

[Lizzie in Ma]

I would ask if they believe the parent has the right to decide what is best for the child. Ours flat out told our hsing friend they should let their teenager go to the vocational school "because she wants to"

[Vanna]

I would ask if they believe the parent has the right to decide what is best for the child. Ours flat out told our hsing friend they should let their teenager go to the vocational school "because she wants to"

 

...although this doc seemed a bit "pushy" about vaccinations, he would respect our wishes, but I guess really we'll have to "wait and see". I went to the consultation w/o my children and "hindsight being 20/20" I really should have brought them with me to see how he interacted with them.

 

I forgot to mention in my epilogue that I did ask him how he felt about homeschooling. He said he had no problem with it as long as I was in compliance with our state regulations. He went on to explain he had a daughter-in-law that was homeschooled and that there are other homeschooled children in the practice.