Pediatrician pet peeves

Being a working mom, taking my kids to the doctor is not always easy. Do you want to know what makes or breaks a visit for me? It’s the attitude of the staff. If I have to bring both my kids to a visit for just one of them, it’s one thing to hear “aren’t school vacations challenging? Makes it hard for us working types.” But, it’s another to hear “Oh…you brought BOTH your kids?” That always makes my blood boil… a little latitude and empathy go a long way.

Have you ever considered the flip side of that pet peeve coin? Why comments like the above are made to begin with? I want to share a few of the pet peeves with you that I hear time and time again from my medical colleagues – both nurses and doctors.

Please know that I’m not making excuses for bad behavior –it is just a bird’s eye view into the medical world to help you, the parent and caregiver, the tools necessary to make a medical encounter go as smoothly as possible:

• If you’re experiencing a long wait, we are as upset as you are –we hate “getting behind” and knowing there is a long wait. Hovering in the door way or at the nurse’s station won’t speed up the cue.
• Give us, the physician, the opportunity to get the visit underway before demanding tests or medications for your child (or yourself.) It is hard to predict what will be needed for a medical problem without getting the proper information from you first and then examining your child.
• Try not to jump to conclusions about the order people get called into rooms – every person has a situation and there is likely a very good medical reason why someone who has shown up after you was brought back before you.
• Be sure the adult accompanying your child to the visit knows the child’s medical history, including details of current illness, medications and doses and shots. Write down the details if needed. We can’t do our job well if we are not given a snapshot of the child’s medical world.
• Please don’t give your children food to eat once in the exam room. We can’t get a good look into the mouth if it’s covered in crackers or red juice.
• Please help your child get onto the exam table and get into the gown if requested. It is much easier to examine your child if undressed and in a gown and the visit will go more quickly if all of that occurs before we get into the room.
• Avoid using your cell phone in the exam room. Unless it is a true emergency. This is a mutual respect issue – you want our undivided attention, and we want yours.
• Do your best to leave other children at home, but if you need to bring them, help them stay out of the way, verbally and physically. Distraction toys and snacks can really help here.
• Expect your kids to follow the same basic behavior rules as when home – if they are not allowed to be rude to adults or climb on furniture at home or school, please don’t allow that in a medical office or ER.
• Remember we all want the same thing in the end – to help your child feel better.
  

Try a few of these tips out next time you are at the doctor’s office and see for yourself the impact on how the visit goes – I bet you’ll walk away feeling much more satisfied.

© 2005 Pediatrics Now.
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