Ok I just need some good old mother to mother conversation here. This is what I would need a play date for, my kid is not much of a friend to play with, but I would like to get together with some of you all just so I could talk about things like this.
-Dr Ja**ings office visit #1:Annie is 4 days old, enter pedi office at 8:30 only people in the waiting room, one other family at the office already in an exam room. I know this because I can hear EVERYTHING Dr J is telling this mom about her 8 year olds ear infection (hello HIPAA) we wait in the exam room for 30 min for Dr J. My baby is weighed with a wet, dirty diaper on (I am new at this I didnt think to check) at an appointment when ounces count. Dr J comes in and introduces himself as an afterthought and didnt seem to care who we were (didnt wait for us to introduce ourselves before launching into Annies exam). He decides that she needs a bili blood level drawn and then proceeds to second, third and fourth guess himself. He kept changing his mind, "does she look yellow" "I dont know maybe its the lighting" "maybe its not as bad as I thought" "oh well I am probably just used to it by now you should have her checked just in case"! I thought Joe was going to go insane.
I left feeling no warm fuzzys toward the office or the Dr and I wished that I had just one good feeling to go off of. Not that I make my parenting decisions on feelings but I just wasn't comfortable. I decided that I just needed to get to know the office and the Dr's.
-Encounter #2 Annie is 2 Weeks old and has a "gunky eye" I called to see if she needed to come in. I really wasnt worried about it but I wanted to know if I should be. The RN called me back and said that Dr J called in a prescription for me for E-mycin and use that for a week. Its probably nothing but just in case...
I am ok with just in case however I thought that he may want to see the eye before prescribing medication.
-Encounter #3 1 Month Check up: I made this appt with Dr W excited to see if I liked her any better. The appointment was for 1:15, I prefer showing up 10-15 min early for appts. I dont mind waiting if they are busy but my history with other offices is that I get seen early if not on time. There was again not a soul in the office and I was told that it would be 15 min...45min later still the only one in the waiting room they finally take us back!!! They were 30 min behind schedule with no one there???? One lady came in while I was sitting there and waited at the window for 5 min before she finally just went walking back into the back offices to find someone to hand her a script. Now I did like Dr W's personality better than Dr J, she was very open to listening to my questions, she was so-so on her answer to my alternative vaccination schedule question with the end result being that she supports me in that decision. Then said "most of what I tell you today is going to be what Dr J already went over at your first visit" and then proceeded to tell me a list of important things that Dr J never went over with me.
Bottom line, am I being over reactive? Do I have a wrong impression of their office or does everyone wait 30 min to be seen? How long would I have to wait if there were other patients to be seen? I am just not impressed with the staff or the Dr's. I want to switch now if I am going to switch but is it really worth it?
Forget-Me-Not Thoughts
1 month ago
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3 comments:
Hmmm. Interesting.
I go to that practice and I LOVE it. I don't love Dr. W. as much. She seems a little antibiotic happy. Doctor J. is the perfect personality fit for our family. He is laid back and I agree that he doesn't offer up a ton of information. He seems to respect that I look things up on my own and just trusts that I am making the right decision for our children. When he does give info, I find him to be extremely thorough, though. To the point where he is so detailed that I get lost. I actually like the hands-off approach much more than the in-your-face kind of thing. Dr. J. seems to mellow our whole family.
That said - go with your instincts! Especially being in the medical profession - I'm sure you have in your mind what you want. If that practice isn't it, then switch.
Though from what I hear, Dr. J. is one of the few open to not vaccinating or vaccinating on a non-traditional schedule, if you're interested in that.
We tend to wait a bit when we're there, too. Though I've never thought it seemed an outrageous amount of time. I don't mind because Dr. J. always spends plenty of time answering our questions and never makes us feel rushed or like he has some other important thing to tend to. I figure it's worth the wait, knowing that he's probably giving everyone else the same undivided attention.
I think Melissa's reasoning is a perfect example of why I also say, go with your gut... Pastor Brad would love to hear this advice.
I have never waited 30 minutes at my pediatrician. That, in his words, is very rare and he would like to keep it that way.
But as far as Dr.'s go, you just have to find the right fit for you. That's why M likes's him but you don't.
If you need one more opinion, ditto. If your baby gets really sick, you want to have a pedi that you feel like you can really trust.
I would find a dr that you really like and can trust. That said, i think there will be something about every office that you don't like. My dr office doesn't usually make me wait too long, but I can't stand the nurses and they usually take a long time to bring the vaccinations. They second-guess every decision I make and act like I should unquestioningly do what they say. I'm putting up with it for now though, because I really like the dr and he's much more mellow.
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