Choosing a Doctor for Your Child

Before your baby is born, you should have a physician picked for your baby. The hospital staff will be asking the name of your pediatrician when you are checking into the hospital in labor. It is also good to have the decision made before the birth of your child because you will have enough things on your mind later, and you may need to make a visit to your pediatrician within days of your baby's birth.

A pediatrician is a doctor that specializes in children's medicine but many family physicians are also willing to see newborns and children. Start with friends' recommendations, and if that is not helpful, look close to home. With young children you do not want a very long drive to the doctor. Look in the telephone book or on the internet for a list of prospective doctors for you to consider. To find doctors certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, go to their website.

Many doctors' offices now have their own websites, and you can gather some information from there to minimize the time you will be on the telephone with doctors' receptionists to get some answers to your questions. Do not be shy, and do ask questions ahead of time. You are entitled to know what to expect to pay and how available the doctor is.

Here are some things you should know before you make the first appointment for your baby. First ask if they accept your insurance plan. Do they expect payment in full up front or will they bill you after they have heard back from your insurance? How do they bill follow-up visits? For instance, after a course of antibiotics for an ear infection do they bill a follow-up visit for the same amount as the first? Some doctors' offices will have what they call bench checks. With a bench check the doctor makes a very quick follow-through examination about the particular problem in question and you and your insurance are given a smaller bill.

What are the office hours for the doctor's office? What do you do if you have an emergency after hours? Some doctors will handle this by partnering with backup doctors to return your call if the answering nurse deems the call important enough. You may be expected to handle your own after-hours problems by going to an urgent care clinic or the emergency room. If your doctor's office does not offer twenty-four hour nurse advice, it may be good to find out if your insurance company does or a local hospital. As a parent you learn quickly to watch the times and days of a doctor's availability if you begin to suspect your child may be starting to get sick.

How is the waiting area arranged for sick and healthy children? It is a good practice that many pediatricians are now trying to separate sick and healthy children waiting areas. Some doctors' offices will have separate doors and rooms for the sick to enter and wait in. Some are in the same room but with a divider of some kind. If the office makes hand sanitizers available, take advantage of them for you and your child. Remember most illnesses are passed by touch through the hands. Where children are involved, you can assume that any toys in the waiting room may have been in some other child's mouth, too.

There are many more questions you can ask the staff as well as the doctor, but these are a few questions to help you get started. Some things you cannot know until you meet the doctor, such as whether your child will like him or her. There may be no such thing as the perfect doctor, but the more information you gather ahead of time the better the decision you may make in your choice of a doctor.