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Helpful Hints for Selecting a Pediatrician
Talk to parents in your
neighborhood, church, social circles and ask who
they recommend and most importantly, why?
You can usually
call the practice manager or administrator, or sometimes a nurse is
assigned to take calls and answer questions that you might have.
Questions for the Pediatric Practice
What are the daily
office hours? How do I get in touch after office hours, on weekends and
for emergencies?
Do you have an
advice nurse for questions during the day? And what is the turn around
time to get an answer?
What
insurances/health plans does the office accept?
What hospitals will
they visit for a newborn exam?
Who are the doctors
– are they members of the American Academy of Pediatrics and/or the NC
Pediatric Society? Are they Board certified by the American Board of
Pediatrics?
Who will see my
child – will I be assigned to one doctor or will there be a rotation?
I am planning to
nurse my baby, is there a lactation consultant available in the practice?
Are there Nurse
Practitioners or Physician’s Assistants in the practice?
You can even
consider a personal interview – but be prepared to pay an office visit fee
(and insurance will most likely not reimburse this).
Or just visit the
office to find the location and have a look at the office arrangements.
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Find A Pediatrician Online
Upon acceptance of the disclosure, using
your zip code, you can find a pediatrician who is a member of the
American Academy of Pediatrics on the internet at
http://www.aap.org/referral/.
(Be aware that sometimes the zipcode
returned may be the home address of the pediatrician, so you might have to
use several zipcodes for the area where you are looking.)
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