We recommend meeting with pediatricians prior to the birth of your child. This offers multiple benefits, from the simple act of understanding the commute to and from the doctor’s office, to the more important consideration of ensuring the pediatrician’s policies and personality match your interests and lifestyle.

Take into consideration the dates and hours available for appointments, walk-in availability, urgent care services, hospital affiliations, accreditations, and immunization policies. Determine if the office has options such as a nurse line, teledoc, or other 24/7 contact service. We can rarely predict when our little one is going to come down with something and it’s helpful to be able to text, email or call someone for knowledgeable advice. In our experience, pediatricians welcome parents to book an in person meeting and ask questions prior to registering their children with the office.

Take into consideration the demeanor and personality of the physicians and staff. If you do or do not feel comfortable during the initial interview meeting, it is reasonable to assume you will feel the same way when you bring your child in for a wellness exam.

Sample Pediatrician Interview Questions

  1. Office Policies and Procedures
  • How does your office work? Is it a group office and is somebody on call all the time?
  • How can we contact your office during late night/weekend emergencies?
  • Do you employ a message service or is a registered nurse on call? How quickly do you aim to return calls if we need to leave a message?
  • Can you give me some examples of what you consider routine (call during office hours), urgent (contact the on-call doctor) and emergency (call 911) situations?
  • Does your office respond to questions sent via text or email? Do you have an alternative service such as a teledoc or access to a 24/7 nurse line?
  1. Hospital Affiliations
  • With which hospitals are you affiliated? Do those hospitals have a pediatric ER?
  • If the pediatrician is affiliated with the hospital where you will give birth, you may want to ask if the doctor (or someone else at the office) will examine your baby after birth.
  • If the pediatrician is not affiliated with that hospital, ask how they will communicate with the attending pediatrician at the hospital.
  1. Appointments
  • What is the procedure for making appointments? Should I make an appointment for around the due date or does your office communicate with the hospital?
  • Can you give me an overview of what will the happen at well child appointments?
  • What are the critical appointments during the first year of life and thereafter?
  • Will you handle all appointments? If not, how do you communicate with the other pediatricians?
  1. Immunizations
  • Does your office follow the AAP immunization guidelines? Can you give me an overview of what that means and the timing of when the baby needs to get immunization shots?
  1. Allergies
  • Do you test for (how do you test) and help manage any allergies?
  1. Insurance and billing
  • Determine which insurance policies are accepted.
  1. OTC Medications
  • What if any OTC medications do you recommend we have on hand (e.g., Infant Tylenol, Motrin, other)? For what symptoms should we consider giving OTC medicine? What are the appropriate doses at different age groups? Are there any potential side effects?