ADVICE RATING |
  3.96 (May work) from 10 votes (405 Visits) |
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To Find the Right Doctor |
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by KileeGiles  (August 2006) (rank 133rd) |
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We have been lucky enough to be blessed with a relatively healthy child. We did struggle with ear infections for the 1st eighteen months which had us discussing the possibility of grommets and now we are having some problems relating to çomplaining of pain in her legs.
The
difficulty initially was how do you find an appropriate doctor to look after your child?
No one in our family has ever had a long term GP, it is too difficult to maintain that relationship with moving houses, states or basically the long wait time for appointments for certain doctors. I found that the best option is to find a doctor's practice that meets your needs with at least 3 doctors on staff.
We have a number of these options available in our local area and over the past 3 years we have tried them out. The experiences have not always been pleasant. My favourite was the doctor who suggested that I was an over reactive parent bringing my child in to have her ears checked when she had a cold. This same doctor asked me if Mia was my only child, when I said yes and that there were no plans to have any more he proceeded to lecture me on the importance of today's youth repopulating the world.
As you can imagine I have not been back to that doctor or that practice.
The practice we have unofficially chosen as our family practice has the follwoing benefits:
- close to home (within 5km)
- 3 doctors on staff
- children's toys and books in the waiting room (these are washed and replaced regularly)
- no more than 1 day waiting time for an appointment but will find space if the appointment is for a child
- less than 1/2 hour wait upon arrival (the wait time is often much less)
- bulk bill for children (for those who are not from Australia this means there is no out of pocket expense for your consultation)
- each doctor has a great way with Mia making her and us feel at ease
- each time we have been referred to a specialist we have been very happy with the service provided by that specialist
Each family will have differing requirements when it comes to the doctor who helps them in their time of need. The above points are what I have found most valuable when looking for a doctor.
