Thursday, August 22, 2013

Choosing a Pediatrician with Sherilyn Kaye Edwards



As a registered nurse and longtime advocate of children's healthcare improvements, Sherilyn Kaye Edwards is well aware of the pressures young parents face when choosing a doctor for their children. Sherilyn Kaye Edwards has seen the cases where the parents who have not yet selected a doctor become truly worried and scared for their child's health in times of need. For this reason, she knows that it is a good thing to have a doctor already picked out before your child gets sick. Sherilyn Kaye Edwards has a few tips for choosing a good pediatrician.

1.      Get Some Background Information: Frequently, young parents rush into a doctor’s office with their sick baby and have no idea what the doctor's credentials are. Sherilyn Kaye Edwards encourages young parents, or even soon-to-be parents, to engage in some preliminary research before meeting a pediatrician. Utilize resources like medical directories and the internet to find out where the doctor did their schooling and where they conducted their residency. Knowing this background information will give new parents a good footing to stand on when meeting the doctor.
2.      What Are the Hours? Frequently, doctors’ offices only have day time hours. Doctors often will help out at local clinics and hospitals in addition to running their own practice. While this is an admirable activity, it can make things difficult when you have a sick child on Tuesday and your doctor is not in the office until Thursday. Find out what the office hours are, and also learn about the doctor's on-call policy. According to Sherilyn Kaye Edwards, doctors will sometimes be out of the office, but have a number to contact them in case of a truly serious illness.
3.      Check the Attitude. Make sure that your doctor exhibits a genuine desire to help the patients in his office. Stop by the office and talk to the doctor, the staff, and if you are brave, a couple parents of patients. In the end, it all comes down to whether you are comfortable with the doctor, and Sherilyn Kaye Edwards encourages parents to not sacrifice genuine interest for the sake of distance or cost.

Choosing a primary care physician is hard for adults, but even more difficult when you are choosing for your child. Sherilyn Kaye Edwards reassures young parents that by following these steps, they will be well on their way to having an excellent relationship with their child's pediatrician.

Source:

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/health-management/pages/How-To-Choose-A-Pediatrician.aspx

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