Finding a Doctor for Your Child
Choosing a doctor for your child is an important step to providing your child with quality health care. It can also be an overwhelming task.
The first thing is to find a doctor that participates in your particular health plan. I live in the United States where there seems to be numerous health care plans. Depending upon the plan offered by your particular employer, you may have an abundance of doctors to choose from, or you may just have a few. It’s important to call the doctor’s office to make sure that they are still participating in your particular insurance plan. Don’t trust the insurance company to have the most up to date information!
If you can, it’s helpful to find a doctor who has other partners in the practice. You can still choose one particular doctor to manage your child’s care, but it is nice to have other options if that particular doctor has a full schedule and your child is quite sick.
Some other things to ask about when looking for a doctor: does the office have extended hours? Do they have weekend and evening appointments? Is there a separate office for well child check ups? Can you schedule and appointment yourself, or must you go through a nurse triage line where the nurse determines if your child is sick enough for an appointment?
Lastly but certainly not the least to consider: is this particular office respectful to you? Do they value you as an important member of “the team”?
Finding the right doctor can be a lot of work, but the payoff for your labors is huge. When your child is sick or needs emergency care, you’ll be glad that you invested all that time finding the very best doctor to take care of your precious child.
