General Pediatrics at Georgetown Hospital

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for a pediatrician for a newborn, and I'd like feedback on doctors and the workings of the practice at Georgetown Hospital. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Please take this with a grain of salt, but just wanted to pass along my limited experiences. I don't use GT for our general pediatrician, but I have twin babies and had to go there for a specialist appt to have a heart murmur checked on (it was nothing thank goodness). I was very impressed with the doctor and started talking to the nurse about the general practice and about possibly switching to them. She said that they are very good doctors of course, but given that it's a teaching hospital there's often a really long wait. The nurse kind of lowered her voice and said as a nurse she'd recommend it, but as a mother, the wait is often just too long, especially since I had twins. So if you don't mind the waits (and only have 1 baby), it's something to consider but just wanted to pass that along -- and thought it was pretty nice of the nurse to be that honest with me. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I'm very happy with GT pediatrics. I also have twins and agree that you must schedule your standard appointments (6 mo., 9 mo., etc.) well in advance, but that's generally not a problem since you know what dates you need to go in anyway. When we've needed sick appointments, we have had to see residents because it's almost impossible to see your primary on such short notice, but there is always a "normal" doctor overseeing the evaluations and treatment, and you can request that they see your child/talk to you at the end of the visit. The actual wait for an appointment once you're there is generally under 5 min. They run almost on time, which is more than I can say for any adult doctors I've been to In any case, I've been very happy with all of the general and specialized care we've received there, and we've had quite a lot since the babies were premature. Our primary physician is Dr. Rachel St. John and I defintely recommend her, but the other doctors we've seen (Nelson and Rennert) have been great too.

[Anonymous]

We've also been very happy with the quality of care we get at GT. The PPs have already mentioned the downsides of the practice - you have to schedule far in advace for your well-care appts and it's very difficult to get an appointment with your primary doctor at the last minute. Sick visits are staffed by residents (who are supervised by attending doctors), I don't personally consider that a negative but a lot of people do. I've found that wait times can be quite long sometimes. To us, the quality of care is worth the long waits and other negatives though.

[Anonymous]

I have been very happy with GT. I have had great experience with the on call physicians for middle of the night medical questions. My appointments have always been on time. Although we sometimes see residents, I really don't mind. I also never feel rushed and on more than one occasion, they have let me stay in the exam room after an appointment in order to breastfeed my twins. I am a big fan.

As for the running late -- this is a problem I have had in nearly every doctor's office I have ever interacted with. GT is no worse than others in my experience. My solution there and everywhere else is to insist on morning appointments. So far, they have never been late for me.