pediatrician interview

im going to meet a prospective pediatrician today. what are some questions i should be asking him?

 

1. What is your position on vaccinations? If you're in the "vaccines cause autism" camp, this is important. My pediatrician's office will not see patients who decline to be vaccinated.
2. Will you be present at delivery or will hospital pediatricians handle that?
3. What sorts of medical supplies should I have in my medicine cabinet at home when the twins arrive?
4. What are your office hours? How does your office handle after-hours emergencies? My pediatrician's office is open 24 hours, which is really really nice.

 

QUOTE(rogerdodger @ May 5 2009, 10:59 AM) [snapback]1301086[/snapback]
1. What is your position on vaccinations? If you're in the "vaccines cause autism" camp, this is important. My pediatrician's office will not see patients who decline to be vaccinated.
2. Will you be present at delivery or will hospital pediatricians handle that?
3. What sorts of medical supplies should I have in my medicine cabinet at home when the twins arrive?
4. What are your office hours? How does your office handle after-hours emergencies? My pediatrician's office is open 24 hours, which is really really nice.


THESE are great. Thank you!
My DH and I are a little confused about vaccines, too. We are leaning toward not doing 'all' of them.

 

also - who does the circumcisions?

 

The other thing you may want to think about is how "drug" oriented the dr is. Some drs are prescription-happy whereas other drs will lean towards more natural methods. I'm one for using meds if needed, but so many things out there can be taken care of without them. We LOVE our pediatrician! He's seen it all not only is he highly respected in the medical community, he is so great with the kids and really involved with the parents too. Good luck on your hunt!

 

QUOTE(newtothis @ May 5 2009, 11:03 AM) [snapback]1301097[/snapback]
also - who does the circumcisions?

My OB does the circumcisions but the insurance bills it as a cost incurred by the baby. As for the vaccines, you may want to use a delayed schedule vs not doing some of the vaccines. I believe they are all required for public school.

 

I guess this being our first babies, I really don't know what to think about vaccinations. What are the different views that people and pediatricians have on them?

 

QUOTE(rhc0607 @ May 5 2009, 01:21 PM) [snapback]1301297[/snapback]
I guess this being our first babies, I really don't know what to think about vaccinations. What are the different views that people and pediatricians have on them?


i would like to know this too!

 

Another important question; does the peds support breastfeeding.

For us, the biggest one was how weekends/after-hours was handled as it is the norm in this household for our 5 year old to get ill usually on weekends and late at night. We actually just interviewed a new peds for our daughter and the twins since we just moved to a new town. We are so glad we did the interview and my daughter totally warmed up to the new doc!

I didn't do the whole interview thing when I was pregnant with my first.. I just called a doc, got it setup as our peds and that was that. Talk about first-time ignorance lol it worked OK but this time DH and I were more prepared with questions, so I highly do recommend the interview and meet and greet of the peds.

 

QUOTE(rhc0607 @ May 5 2009, 10:21 AM) [snapback]1301297[/snapback]
I guess this being our first babies, I really don't know what to think about vaccinations. What are the different views that people and pediatricians have on them?


As far as the views on vaccinations, there are two main views and variations on each and it can turn into a pretty heated argument with some people. Some people believe that vaccinations are important and needed, and there are those that are vehemently against giving their children vaccinations (some make the argument vaccinations can lead to autism). Depending on the state you're in, you are required to give your kids vaccinations before they enter school, but in states like oregon, you can waiver that. Some doctors push to have as many vaccinations as soon as possible in babies, while others like to space it out. Most doctors fall in the pro-vaccination category and will not accept patients that refuse vaccinations. Whatever decision you decide to make with your children, just make sure you get true facts and know what and why you are making your decision, as not everything you find out there regarding the debate is factual. There are a lot of vaccines out there and sometimes it comes down to a decision based on specific vaccines.

In the case of our pediatrician, he is in the category that refuses service unless you vaccinate your kids because he has some very sick children that cannot get vaccinations and he will not put them at risk. When our DS was born, being a preemie, our pediatrician put him in a waiting pattern for vaccinations until he was bigger and a little older, which i appreciated. He also is a dr that spaces the vaccines out more so that your kid isn't getting too many too soon. Coming from a medical family, i personally feel they are important, but i don't feel a baby needs to be bombarded with everything right away and i feel some vaccinations are more important than others. Good luck on your hunt and i hope that gives you a little bit of knowledge.

 

What hospital are they affiliated with in case you need to take your kids to the ER, or would be referred there for surgery at some point. We wanted to make sure they were affiliated with a hospital that was convenient, as well as one where we'd be sure they would receive the best care.

 

Depending on what your views are on other things, it's nice to know how they feel about co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, homeschooling and such... if those are things you might consider. If not, no big deal.

It's also nice to know how long it takes to get referrals/prescriptions called in. If you have a question, does your Dr returns phone calls or does his/her nurse, and how long does that typically take? If it's a small office, do they coordinate with another office for weekend/on-call hours? If it's a larger one, do they have evening or weekend hours? I like not having to go to the walk-in clinic with a sick or hurt child, just because it's Saturday.

And on the vaccine issue, it's not necessarily so cut and dried as just vaccinating or not. I don't really think there's enough evidence to support the idea that vaccines cause autism. But it's too much to give FIVE shots to my baby at once. It's a lot harder on their bodies, IMO, and if there is a reaction it would be harder to tell what they're reacting to. So we space things out a little more. I also don't want my children to have the "unnecessary" vaccines like the ones for ear infections and chicken pox. It's not even an option now, but when my oldest was small, there was a choice between an oral and a shot version of the polio vaccine. No way was I going to have her get the oral one that had the possibility (albeit slight) of contracting polio. I've always appreciated that our pedi was able to say to me, "This is why I don't think this is a problem... " or "This is how I would handle this situation..." then add something to the effect of, "but you're the parent and I support your decisions to raise your child this way." That was true with co-sleeping, and delaying some of the vaccines... neither would ever be his parenting choice, but he supported our decisions to do those things. He was also a little iffy on homeschooling when we started. He's now very supportive (for our family at least) as he's watched my children through the years.

I'm just changing pedi's because we've moved. Well, actually we moved almost 2 years ago, but I liked my old one so much, and my kids are healthy enough that it wasn't a big deal to make the rare trip up an hour to see him. But since we're having a new baby in a couple of weeks, I decided it was time to change. I'm sad that I don't have time to interview anyone. The choice I made in new pedi's was from asking my midwives for suggestions, based on their experiences with like-minded parents. I hope we end up liking our new one as much as I've loved the old one for the last 11 years.