Do you ever feel overwhelmed trying to talk with your pediatrician?
As a new mom I know that I often am concerned about tons of things, and struggle to communicate them with my son’s pediatrician. Then I would listen to my sister-in-law who is a pediatrician complain about different patients who would come in with a laundry list of woes.
To quote Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank, “There has to be a better way!”
I decided to interview my sister-in-law and pediatrician, Gretchen about tips to give mom’s better communication with their Pediatrician.
Listen To The Interview
3 Tips for Better Communication with Your Pediatrician
Make a list. It is fine to have a lot of concerns, but write them down. This way you can use your time effectively when you are actually in the room with the doctor. Plus you will not forget.
Focus on the task at hand. Well visits block out more time for you to spend with the pediatrician so you can ask all your questions. Gretchen pointed out that sick visits are not a good time to address chronic issues. She also mentioned that if you don’t have a well visit coming up, offices have worried well visits were they block off more time with you and the doctor if your child isn’t sick at the moment but there are things going on that concern you.
Know they are very busy. Gretchen pointed out that pediatricians see about 20 patients in a half day! That is a lot. Truly that just made me want to switch to a less busy office. But her point was that as long as you’ve been waiting, there are other concerned moms with their kids waiting to get help too.
I hope this list empowers you. I know it doesn’t make you less worried about your kiddos, or magically give your doctor more time to spend with you, but hopefully you can use these tips to make your time with the pediatrician more productive. So you can walk away feeling satisfied, that you were able to ask the questions you needed.
Do you have any tips for communicating with your pediatrician?
This is such great advice! My kids are grown now but when I was pregnant the first time, we actually interviewed pediatricians to make sure we ended up with someone that we jived with. It helped - we saw the same pediatrician from day 1 until my boys were 18. :)
ReplyDeleteStacey, that is incredible advice! I have always wanted to do that but felt awkward. I would love to know how you went about interviewing the pediatricians.
DeleteThis is wonderful. Thanks for sharing...and from an actual pediatrician - WOW! I, personally, think the Peds office would be better with a bounce house and a slide, I'm sure other moms would agree! HAHA!!! Thanks for posting. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right :) That would make the visits much better. I was really excited to interview a pediatrician... is there any other professionals you would like to see interviewed?
DeleteThis is direct, face-to-face communication that occurs between two persons. It is essentially a dialogue or a conversation between two or more people.women in film
ReplyDelete