Pediatricians: hospital affiliation and education important?

[jmleader]

Hi there! I just moved to DC, am expecting le bebe in 2 weeks (!), and am thrilled to have learned about this forum. I look forward to many rounds of questions and answers and would love your help with a current concern: how important did you find your pediatrician's hospital affiliation and education? A colleague turned me onto a pediatrician she loves. It's a small operation, she can always get in to see the Dr. or reach her via phone; the Dr. knows and remembers her kids and their issues, and there's parking. However, the hospital that this doctor is affiliated with isn't nationally ranked, nor is it in the top 10 in the area, and for a city as small as DC, I wonder if we'd be missing out on better care. In addition, her medical school isn't one I'd heard of, and I couldn't find it ranked anywhere, either.

When you actually have a kid, though, how much does this actually matter? I feel snobbish even posting this, but I'm hoping you all can relate to the desire to get the best possible caregivers for my future child. I'd love to hear any thoughts or experiences about what really matters when choosing a pediatrician--whether it's some the comfort of pedigree or attentiveness and accessibility that really matter.

[Anonymous]

I take my child to the top hospital in the area for pediatrics/problem he/she is having regardless of who is affiliated with it. If my pediatrician is affiliated and can see them there all the better. If they aren't, I would still take them there as opposed to another hospital simply to be cared for by my pediatrician. While education is important to me - more so the residency than the med school, this is not the primary bases for my decision.

[Anonymous]

I agree with pp. My child nearly died at birth. I thank goodness that we were at Georgetown Hospital with a top notch NICU. Their care was lifesaving.

[Anonymous]

Having a ped with privileges at a hospital just means that if your kid gets admitted they can see them on rounds. Probably more important if your kid has pneumonia or something serious but that your ped can treat. Anything for which you go to a specialist, who really cares if your ped can visit? You can never know for sure what will happen with your child, but I'd much rather have an easily accessible, friendly pediatrician who has lots of experience with ear infections and snotty noses and will not treat me like a dolt for calling as a nervous first time mom.

[Anonymous]

Which hospital? I know the industry well...

[jmleader]

Thanks, everyone. It's useful to hear all the perspectives.

@Anonymous 21:09 pm--this Dr. is affiliated with Howard. I'm guessing it would mostly be relevant with regard to emergency care--ie, if we needed to take the kid into the er, that's where we would take him/her, right? Or wrong? I admit I don't know quite how that works, either, but I'd love to hear any thoughts!

[Anonymous]

If your child actually has to be admitted, most hospitals are now using hospitalists (sort of like in-house pediatricians who help coordinate care), so it's not likely s/hewould even see your child.

I personally think education/training is important. I wanted someone who had trained at a big children's hospital (higher level of expertise, exposed to more cases, they only focus on kids). I went with someone who had trained at Children's National Medical Center and there are several peds who trained there and stayed in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your child actually has to be admitted, most hospitals are now using hospitalists (sort of like in-house pediatricians who help coordinate care), so it's not likely s/hewould even see your child.

I personally think education/training is important. I wanted someone who had trained at a big children's hospital (higher level of expertise, exposed to more cases, they only focus on kids). I went with someone who had trained at Children's National Medical Center and there are several peds who trained there and stayed in the area.

Since I know I would take DC to Children's for any type of emergency or specialty care, I also chose a pediatrician trained and affiliated with Children's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Since I know I would take DC to Children's for any type of emergency or specialty care, I also chose a pediatrician trained and affiliated with Children's.

I would also take DC to Children's (and have) for specialty care, but I'm not sure why this dictates where my ped is affiliated since Children's has its own complete staff. FWIW, I've found the docs there (in neuro) very good at communicating with our ped, i.e., sending reports and answering questions - no need for my ped to be affiliated. I go to the ped for well visits, shots, strep tests, etc., and for referrals if I need more specialized care elsewhere. As good as the care is at Children's (and G'Town, where I took DC to an ENT for tubes), I am delighted not to have to deal with hospital bureaucracy for every little runny nose. They're there when we need them.

[Anonymous]

I'm a pediatrician (well NICU foc, actually) and I have no idea where my kids ped trained. Getting into a good med school means that you did really well in college science courses. Getting into a good residency program means you did well in med school classes and most likely did research. I oversimplify a bit, but if my kid needs specialty based care, I'll worry about where the specialist trained. For a ped, I want someone who's parenting advice meshes with my style, someone whose office is easy to deal with, and someone who can hold an intelligent conversation and be up to date on common ped issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Since I know I would take DC to Children's for any type of emergency or specialty care, I also chose a pediatrician trained and affiliated with Children's.

I would also take DC to Children's (and have) for specialty care, but I'm not sure why this dictates where my ped is affiliated since Children's has its own complete staff. FWIW, I've found the docs there (in neuro) very good at communicating with our ped, i.e., sending reports and answering questions - no need for my ped to be affiliated. I go to the ped for well visits, shots, strep tests, etc., and for referrals if I need more specialized care elsewhere. As good as the care is at Children's (and G'Town, where I took DC to an ENT for tubes), I am delighted not to have to deal with hospital bureaucracy for every little runny nose. They're there when we need them.

if the ped is affiliated with Children's, you get priority when you make appointments in their specialty departments. Our ped gave us a special phone # to call. You don't have to wait as long for an appointment.

[Anonymous]

My child was just in a hospital last week that my pediatrician was not affiliated with. It wasn't that big of a deal. My pedi spoke with me on the phone multiple times daily and worked with the pediatric hospitalists assigned to my son to determine the treatment plan. Once he was released we had a follow up appt with the pedi and he was completely up to date on the current situation with my child.

If you really like the doctor but not the hospital affiliation it shouldn't be a deal breaker. Just know that if your child does end up in another hospital that this is likely how it will work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
if the ped is affiliated with Children's, you get priority when you make appointments in their specialty departments. Our ped gave us a special phone # to call. You don't have to wait as long for an appointment.

I believe you, but I think when there's a serious issue the medical community in DC is small enough that the ped just calls the doctor and says 'I really need you to see this child ASAP.' I suppose what this whole thing comes down to is a very personal choice: do you want to line up the best care ahead of time for any number of remote contingencies, or are you willing to bet that you have a relatively healthy child who needs a ped for the run of the mill stuff, which will undoubtedly include at least 10 sick visits in the first 2 years for fevers, ear infections, rashes, etc., and find the best fit for that.

Also one thing no one has mentioned, the single best piece of advice I got about picking a ped is to find one with a lactation consultant on staff. I did, and in the first year I spent far more time with her than anyone else, and she (and the practice that supports her) definitely gets full credit for a very successful nursing experience that did not start out well at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
if the ped is affiliated with Children's, you get priority when you make appointments in their specialty departments. Our ped gave us a special phone # to call. You don't have to wait as long for an appointment.

I believe you, but I think when there's a serious issue the medical community in DC is small enough that the ped just calls the doctor and says 'I really need you to see this child ASAP.' I suppose what this whole thing comes down to is a very personal choice: do you want to line up the best care ahead of time for any number of remote contingencies, or are you willing to bet that you have a relatively healthy child who needs a ped for the run of the mill stuff, which will undoubtedly include at least 10 sick visits in the first 2 years for fevers, ear infections, rashes, etc., and find the best fit for that.

Also one thing no one has mentioned, the single best piece of advice I got about picking a ped is to find one with a lactation consultant on staff. I did, and in the first year I spent far more time with her than anyone else, and she (and the practice that supports her) definitely gets full credit for a very successful nursing experience that did not start out well at all.

I have had all of these experiences. My ped's practice is all the way in the hinterlands of Reston, but we have been able to get in with specialists at Children's as needed and in with one of the most popular ENTs in the area as needed, facilitated by a phone call by our ped. Additionally, the LCs at our practice literally turned around our BFing experience so that I am still nursing my 14 month old now when it was really touch and go there in the beginning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
if the ped is affiliated with Children's, you get priority when you make appointments in their specialty departments. Our ped gave us a special phone # to call. You don't have to wait as long for an appointment.

I believe you, but I think when there's a serious issue the medical community in DC is small enough that the ped just calls the doctor and says 'I really need you to see this child ASAP.' I suppose what this whole thing comes down to is a very personal choice: do you want to line up the best care ahead of time for any number of remote contingencies, or are you willing to bet that you have a relatively healthy child who needs a ped for the run of the mill stuff, which will undoubtedly include at least 10 sick visits in the first 2 years for fevers, ear infections, rashes, etc., and find the best fit for that.

Also one thing no one has mentioned, the single best piece of advice I got about picking a ped is to find one with a lactation consultant on staff. I did, and in the first year I spent far more time with her than anyone else, and she (and the practice that supports her) definitely gets full credit for a very successful nursing experience that did not start out well at all.

Actually what I found useful about having a Children's affiliated ped was for routine testing. Seeing the cardiologist for a possible heart murmur (benign and nothing to worry about), pediatric opthamologist (bad family history), etc. It turned out that DB is/was perfectly healthy but had my ped not been affiliated with Children's, we would have had to wait weeks and in one case months longer to be seen by a specialist for a routine evaluation. Just made it much easier and made my life less stressful.