Dr Barbara Stevens
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Anonymous
| Does anyone take their child to see Dr Barbara Stevens in Arlington? Thanks for any input! |
Anonymous
| I do and would be glad to answer any questions. |
Anonymous
| We went to her for almost 3 years and have just switched to Northern VA Pediatrics. There are lots of nice things about her practice - someone always answers the phone and you can easily get an appointment. Most of the time, she is close to on time and will spend as mug time with you as needed. That said, I think her Medical advice is sometimes off. She is always looking for and warning you about very rare and unlikely go happen things. She orders tests and encourages referrals which are not needed. If you are a laid back mom who can recognize that your child's cold is just a cold and the test for blood in stool is unnecessry, you will be fine. |
Anonymous
| We love Dr. Stevens. She's very good with our 3-year-old and she always takes ample time to talk with you about any questions or concerns you may have. I can see the previous poster's point--not that her medical advice is off, but that she can be overly cautious. That doesn't bother me although I do consider myself pretty laid back. (My husband is the "alarmist.") I appreciate that she is a younger doctor, because she seems very up-to-date on current medical literature and actively attends conferences & such. Just my 2 cents. Good luck. |
Anonymous
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I have a newborn, and have been really happy with dr Stevens in our first few months with our baby. I really like the accessibility of the dr and the fact that we rent being cycled thru a bunch of diff docs that don't recognize us.
Great metro accessible location, if that is of interest. Appreciate reading this and other recommendations on this nd other boards (that's how I found her myself!) |
Anonymous
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OP, excuse my questions below.
I am also interested in Dr. Barbara Stevens for my upcoming infant son. Could someone provide additional information about Dr. Stevens? 1. How responsive is Dr. Stevens to the sick-call during off-hour (i.e., after hour, weekend, early morning, etc.)? 2. Is there separate waiting room for sick patient (infectious) and non-sick patient (routine check-up, etc.)? 3. Is it easy to get an appointment for a sudden illness? 4. Typical wait time? Your AM appointment is shorter wait time vs PM appointment, etc? I appreciate all your comments. Thank you! |
Anonymous
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NP here.
1. After hours, you call her answering service, they page her, and she calls back. Her response time is short - we have called her on Christmas weekend and in the middle of the night and got calls back quickly. 2. Yes. 3. Yes. Every time I have called the day of (and this is frequently enough - I have two under two), I have gotten in that day. 4. First appointment of the day (around 9 am) is a great time for no wait. I have had longer waits when I have come in for a last minute sick visit than when I come in for routine visits, which I expect and do not mind. I have not waited more than an hour, and I would not say that waiting that long is typical. I have also had PM appointments with no waits - I think it really depends on how many sick calls she gets that day. One day when we had an hour late, she had had four newborns join the practice that day. Busy day! I would agree with PPs that she is cautious, but I trust her judgment, and she will talk through everything with you. She did suggest that my son's eczema could be a reaction to food, and cutting out dairy did in fact make it go away. So I appreciate the caution. Her office staff is professional and very nice. I like how she acts with my kids, and I like her humor. I also like that she knows who her patients are (which I know because my kids' cousins go there too) - I don't feel like we are nameless faces coming through. I would say that I look forward to our visits there (not so much the sick ones!). |
Anonymous
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I’m the 12:55pm poster.
Thank you so much for your informative comments. We will definitely consider Dr. Stevens. As I had a food allergy myself growing up, "eczema" episode you mentioned above is very reassuring. Again, thank you very much!!! |
Anonymous
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I would not want a pediatrician like this. It signals to me either she is not confident in her diagnosis/analysis of my child and symptoms or she is overly cautious because she fears a lawsuit and plays defensive medicine.
I do have sympathy for the latter, but I would not consent to torturing (multiple unnecessary blood draws) and over testing that doesn't make sense and seem overzealous. |
Anonymous
| 19:45 again. Dr. Stevens actually recommended not doing blood testing for allergies at my son's age, partly because it would be unnecessary torture for a baby/toddler. And testing for blood in stool that one poster above mentioned is a question of smearing some stool on a stick and putting that on a test paper - we did do that, but only when I SAW visible blood in his stool. She also mentioned recognizing your child's cold is just a cold - well, once my child's cold was RSV (and other times she told me it was just a cold). I don't want my own agreement of her being cautious to be taken as a comment that she ordered unnecessary testing on my kids. It looks like one person above felt that may have been the case, and while others have agreed with the description "cautious," that may not mean the same thing to everyone. |
Anonymous
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5/10/12 poster again. I've had my daughter in Dr. Stevens' care for over 9 months now. Here's a review that I wrote for another site recently with more details, in case this helps anybody else!
MY REVIEW: Dr. Stevens has been our infant daughter's primary physician since her first appointment a few days after birth (3/30/12). We visit at the regular intervals (2wk, 1mo, etc) as well as having had a hospital visit (jaundice immediately after birth) and a handful of after-hours calls (temperatures, and a stomach bug). In regards to our regular visits: As I write this, my daughter is 7mo, so we've had at least 6 or 7 regularly scheduled well-baby or vaccine-related visits, and in most cases, we have been seen within 5 minutes of our scheduled appointment (note: we also have always arrived at least a few minutes early or on time.) I had *one* of these appointments where I had to wait 15-20 minutes. For these well-baby visits, I've never felt rushed, and am sure that most appointments last at least 15min (not including the Phys Asst initial weighing/measuring of baby, before Dr comes in). Our hospital visit: I gave birth at another hospital in DC (Dr. Stevens didnt have rights there), so we didn't meet her until the baby was a few days old. Due to various risk factors (parental age/parents had jaundice at birth), baby was admitted to VHC for overnight treatment under lights. Dr. Stevens did her rounds that morning, and helped us get released as soon as possible. Note: NOT a fan of VHC itself, but the treatment did appear to clear up baby's jaundice. After hours calls: Dr responds very quickly to these calls; in case of temp, that was post-vaccine, and (in hindsight) my over-reaction, but Dr Stevens talked me through and provided the correct acetaminophen dosage based on baby age/weight. In case of stomach bug, Dr spent at least 10-15 min going over symptoms and at-home treatment options to help me get baby to keep down some breast milk, and also scenarios in which we'd need to take baby to ER. Luckily, we were able to follow her instructions (exhausting but effective) overnight, and keep baby hydrated with small doses of breastmilk, and (as instructed) called in to set up an appointment for that next day. Quick overview: this is a small practice with just Dr. Stevens, and her front office is run by Lisa, the only person that I've ever spoken to on the phone or seen at the front desk. In a town as transient as Arlington, VA, it is a real treat to go in to see our daughter's dr office and see the same faces, and recognize (and be recognized) by the doctor and staff. I've overall been tremendously happy with this practice. The dr does tend to check for worst-case scenario health issues to rule those out (and I think that scares or frustrates some people in other reviews that I've read), but I am so grateful that she does this - for example, during the stomach bug scare, she made sure to palpate our baby's abdomen (I believe to check for kidney(?) pain, which could have signalled another, more significant issue??). So, this might be a negative for some people, but for this first-time mom, I'm *very* pleased with this aspect of this doctor's practice. She's very supportive of breastfeeding (although I went with information from La Leche League or lactation consultants/experts when their/her suggestions conflicted.) She just seems tremendously knowledgeable and up to date on her education, and I find her very easy to talk to, and she seems to operate a genuinely pleasant and happy office. Parking is easy - on-street and in a lot are available (both paid), AND this is metro accessible (VA Square). I'd given the practice a "B" rating on communication - in the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of this category, the office is an "A" (they get back to after-hours calls reliably and quickly), I have gotten used to other offices that offer online options for scheduling as well as health information, and there are NO email, or other online options for this office. As a small office, I understand they may have limits on how much money (and time) they can spend on these features, and it is a SMALL sacrifice in convenience in exchange high quality of care. |
Anonymous
| Dr. Stevens is the best doctor. I would highly recommend her. Thank you so much. |
Anonymous
| We have been bringing our baby there for almost a year. The doctor is extremely intelligent which almost makes her a little socially awkward but nonetheless very confident in what she's saying. There are a few times she has walked by me without saying hello and I get she is busy but I really don't see the personal aspect that others do. In this town it's hard to find. However, one problem I did have was my baby was weighed wrong a couple of times by the medical technician. The first time my husband caught on during a well visit and the second time I forgot and didn't think to ask. When she dropped in her weight percentile the doctor was concerned and asked if I was still BF. I got so freaked out I bought a scale and the baby weighed one pound more than the tech had written. This is a problem. Once is fine. Twice is not. You can't be wrong about something like that when it concerns a baby. I'm just wondering if this happened twice to me, how many times it has happened to others. |
Anonymous
| Hi-I came across this very old thread - I am interested in taking my DC here for a visit/vaccinations. I have visited the office and the Dr stated her “assistant” was out so she was busier than usual and doing the initial medical stats. The receptionist was there that day but from what I read in reviews she was the only “assistant”. Seems odd Dr would provide mis-information. Does anyone have recent information they could share with this practice? Thanks very much. |
Anonymous
Could she have mean medical technician? I mean, a receptionist/front desk secretary person isn't a medical tech. A med tech is someone who takes blood pressure, weighs, etc. before doctor comes in. If med tech is out, doctor has to do it all, meaning she is busy. She that's who she probably meant by assistant: her med tech |