How to Get the Right Pediatric Health Care: Factors in Selecting a Pediatrician
When it comes to your children’s health, you have to make the right decisions. This is why it can often be challenging for parents to select a pediatrician. A pediatrician is a healthcare professional or doctor who concentrate on children’s health care. But they are not limited to infants and toddlers. As a matter of fact, they also provide care to children as old as 18 or above. Their primary duties are conduct physical examinations, perform immunizations, diagnose ailments, identify deficiencies, and treat sicknesses. If you will be able to choose the right pediatrician, you can have the doctor for long. Here are things that you must ponder on when choosing a pediatrician.
Factors to Consider in Choosing a Pediatrician
1. Clinic Location
One of the factors that play in choosing the right pediatrician is his or her location. As an adult, you may have gone used to distant travels due to daily work and errands. But consider the babies or young ones. Infants need to be checked by a pediatrician typically thrice each month. If you can imagine the travel that your child has to make to make it with those regular health check-ups, you would appreciate a nearer pediatrician. Even if you have your own vehicle, the transportation can still take time. Using your yellow pages or business directory, locate a pediatric clinic that is close to your place or is accessible via public transportation, in case you do not have your own car. The recommendation of friends and family can also help you much here.
2. OB-GYN Recommendation
Choosing a pediatrician does not mean you have to do it all by yourself. In life, you may have met and consulted to other physicians like when you were pregnant or had to be checked for a sickness before. Find your Ob-gyn’s information and contact her to get a recommendation for a pediatrician. It is most likely that your Ob-gyn knows of one or more pediatrician to recommend. As a matter of fact, she may be connected to one or is associated to a pediatric center. Asking a recommendation from a general doctor or your family’s doctor will also do you great help in this search. A pediatrician recommended by family and friends will also be a good option.
3. Pediatrician Credentials
You may find that many pediatricians are a graduate of medical school and possesses a license from the state. However, not everyone of them are board certified. To become board certified, a pediatrician needs to voluntarily pursue continuing education and training the field of pediatrics. By the time he or she completes the same, he or she must pass the examination to be board certified. Being board certified means that the pediatrician has successfully demonstrated competence in the areas of communication skills, professionalism and most importantly in medical knowledge as well as patient care. You should check to see the credentials of your candidate pediatricians in order to know if he or she will be the right one for your children.