For the front desk:

1. What hours are you open? Are there evening/weekend hours for sick kids? How do you handle after-hours questions or problems?
2. Do you have walk-in hours? If not, can we be worked in (i.e., make a same-day appointment) for pressing issues?
3. Are there separate office hours for sick kids and healthy kids? separate waiting areas?
4. How many babies/children do you see at an average time? (To judge how busy office will be and how easy to make appointments.) Or: how long is the average wait in the waiting room?
5. How many doctors are there in the practice? Are there plans to add any? Does a doctor always see the child or is it sometimes a nurse? If the doctor practices solo, who is in charge when s/he is unavailable?
6. Do you provide an advice nurse and/or phone hour, when we can call with questions and/or speak with the doctor? If so, during office hours, outside, or both? when is s/he available?
7. Is the doctor prompt about returning calls? Does s/he have a set schedule?
8. Do you have a laboratory in your office?
9. How are emergencies handled (is there a 24-hour service)?
10. What hospital(s) does the doctor have admitting privileges with? Where would our child go in an emergency? Who would care for our child if s/he had to be admitted?
11. How much do you charge for routine checkups? after-hours visits or consultations?
12. Do you take our insurance?
13. Will you take care of insurance billing for us?
14. Do we have to pay at each visit?
15. What are our payment options?

For the doctor:

1. Can you respond to non-pressing questions by electronic mail?
2. When are you available by telephone? How do you feel about taking phone calls from concerned parents outside the “phone hour”?
3. How do we contact you after business hours? Who would be on call after hours, you or somebody else?
4. Who covers for you when you are unavailable? Do you have affiliations with other pediatricians in the area?
5. What do we do in case of a medical emergency?
6. Can you be present immediately following the birth? How much would you charge?
7. How do you feel about Hep B vaccine at birth? Routine Vitamin K injections in breastfed babies? heelsticks for PKU and other at-birth testing in breastfed babies? (what
   about substituting a cord-blood sample?)
8. If you cannot be at our birth, how soon afterward would you want to
   see the baby?
9. How often do you want to see babies for well-baby care?
10. How much time do you schedule for a well-baby checkup? (Should be at least half an hour to allow time to answer questions.)
11. What are your standard procedures for well-child checkups? Do you do tests on the child’s development, or just take updates from the parents?
12. Do you follow a set schedule for immunizations?
13. Are you board-certified? by whom?
14. Do you do medical research or teach at any medical school?
15. What are your areas of special medical interest (e.g., allergies, child development)?
16. What’s your philosophy on treating sick kids? Do you generally recommend intervention or letting illnesses run their course (before, for example, using antibiotics for ear infections and
    other common ailments)?
17. Do you have any qualms about parents remaining in the room during painful procedures?
18. How do you feel about exclusive breastfeeding? Do you work with a lactation consultant?
19. When do you recommend starting a baby on cereal or other solids?
20. How do you feel about routine circumcision? co-sleeping? Pertussis and chickenpox vaccinations? working mothers breastfeeding?
21. Do you offer advice on strictly behavioral issues?

For us:

1. Is the office easily accessible?
2. How does the office work?
3. Do we like the nurses and staff? how do they treat us?
4. Are there enough staff members?
5. What’s the waiting room like for us?
6. Is the office “kid-friendly”? Is there a nice play area with clean toys in the waiting room? friendly examining rooms? unintimidating clothing on the staff?
7. Is the doctor late for the interview/meeting?
8. Do appointments consistently run late? (Ask parents in the waiting room.)
9. Does the doctor volunteer information or wait for questions?
10. Does the doctor take time to answer questions? Do we feel pressured?
11. Does the doctor relate to us well — doesn’t act like the authority but the partner? does s/he expect parents to be knowledgeable consumers or just accept what s/he says?
12. How well does the doctor communicate with us? (Use the philosophy
    questions to assess this….)
13. Does the doctor involve both parents equally?
14. Is the doctor personable? Do we feel comfortable with him or her?

by Ellen Keyne Seebacher, BCCE