When interviewing doctors to find the one who can provide the best care for your child, ask the following list of twelve initial questions on your first visit: (Note: Some of this information may be available online, or you may be able to ask a few of these questions when making your appointment.)
- Are you board certified? If so, what is your specialty and where did you go to medical school? Ideally, you want a board-certified physician that went to an accredited medical school. Early in our search for a pediatrician, we visited a pediatrician that was recommended by several families. During our initial meeting she attempted to offer our son a corn syrup filled sucker. When I said, “No, our son has allergies”, she responded, “Oh, you’re one of THOSE moms.” Yup, I was one of those moms that had an ADHD little guy that didn’t need extra sugar and had a host of allergies. I later found out that she had her medical degree but had not received it in the United States.
- Do you encourage parents to ask questions and express opinions? Do you encourage participation in care and encourage the patient and parents to be part of the medical team? Our all-time favorite medical doctor, a neurologist, made a point of beginning his relationship with his patients by telling the parents that he expected and encouraged questions. If the parents were researching information on their child, or seeing something, he wanted to know. He was adamant in his opinion that parents were part of the team and he wanted and needed to hear from them.
- Am I able to call you directly in case of an emergency? Our son was an extremely medically complex child and I’m convinced that asking this question and having the cell phone of his Chicago based specialist saved his life when he was eight years old. Our medical specialist took our call, listened to the situation and immediately phoned our local team of doctors and told them how to proceed.
- How long is the wait to see you for non-emergency appointments? If there is an emergency what is your response time and how does the office handle an emergency if I’m unable to get in touch with you? These two questions piggy back on each other and are extremely important. Some specialists will have a 4 to 5 month wait, some longer for an initial appointment. Because of the complexity of our son’s issues, I always requested information on what to do in case of emergency, and ask who was on call. Once we became a patient, we would get into the rotation, and have the ability to see the specialist more frequently.
- Is this a group-practice? Will we see you each time we visit or will it be a rotation? If you are unavailable, who can I expect to see?
- Can I phone or email you with questions regarding a non-urgent situation, and is there a charge for short questions? If so, what is the charge?
- If I need to see a specialist for my child, will you work with me to find the right specialist? This will help relieve a lot of angst if you know your doctor is part of the team and willing to work with a team of specialists.
- If it becomes necessary, are you comfortable in working together with our family and a team of specialists? This question becomes especially important once you have a diagnosis. At times, we were working with two different neurologists, and one neurologist with admitting privileges oversaw our son’s monthly hospital procedures, based on direction and input from his out of state medical specialists.
- Are you comfortable with me bringing a friend or family member with me to the appointment? Is it possible to record our visit so I can best participate and share with my spouse when I leave the appointment? This is important, as it can be difficult to ask all the questions you need and understand what is going on when your child is sick. The ability to bring a friend or record can help you tremendously.
- Do you work with a certain hospital? This important question can be a deal breaker. For example, if Hospital A is the BEST hospital in your area and close to where you live, but the doctor only works at Hospital Z, which is a hospital that is far away and not as highly regarded, you have a decision to make. Is it worth the risk of seeing this doctor should your child need to be directly admitted to the hospital, and your doctor does not have admitting privileges?
- Do you keep paper or electronic records? Do you provide post-visit reports that summarize the treatment plan and what we discussed? This can be very important for continuity of care. Having copies of the post-visit reports ensure you are on the same page, and doctor’s notes can be important as well.
- Do you take my insurance plan? If not, do you offer any discounts for cash payments or do you have any other payment options? Probably the most important thing I can tell you is to not dismiss a doctor because they do not take your insurance or accept insurance. We have found through our years of seeing medical specialists, that often the BEST doctors, the medical providers that have a solid history of getting their patients to a good healthy place, do NOT accept medical insurance. We’re so used to it, that if we find a doctor or medical provider that takes insurance it is more the exception than the rule and we do a happy dance.
This list might seem daunting, but I know you’ve got this. Heading to the doctor with this list in hand will guide and encourage you as you ask the important questions to find the right physician, medical plan and team to help your medically complex child.
These four steps are an excerpt from the Pathway to HOPE Resource Guide. To purchase your copy (Oakland County, MI residents pay only S&H thanks to a grant from United Way of Southeast Michigan and from Oakland County government), visit https://healingcomplexkids.org/product/2021-pathway-to-hope-resource-guide/.