Pediatrition distance question

[Marie]

How important is it that your pediatrition is near your home?

I have been with doctors associated with a very good hospital in our area for over 15 years now. I love the way everything works - from making appts to office visits to availability of specialists, etc etc etc. No complaints. And if a specialist or surgery were ever needed I would want to go there. The only problem is that since we've moved the closest office is 35-45 minutes away depending on traffic. The other good news is that I'm in that area often, have family there so it isn't that big of a deal to drive to.

I'm delivering at a hospital right by my house and have found an OB just for my prenatal care and delivery. I have to name a pediatrition associated with this hospital for care right after the baby is born but I don't think I would want to use someone here for long term care. However, travelling with a newborn that distance could be rough.

So how important was it to you that the office was close to home? If you did have one that wasn't near by, was it a hassle or inconvenience? If it makes a difference, my internist is also at the farther practice.

[lml41981]

Our pediatrician is about 30 minutes away. This is fine for us, as we don't have to go that often (fortunately!). There are peds in the same town as us, but we don't want to look for a new one, as we like the one we have. Besides, there's no hospital in this town and if we needed a hospital, we'd go to one of the two our pediatrician is affiliated with.

[dzmattie]

I am in the exact situation you are - and we were considering switching docs - let me say - we are thankful we didn't. Last week we had a scare with DS which led us to go to the Children's hospital - through his pedi's office we had an appt with a specialist within 24 hours and all tests done immediately. Everything ran like clockwork and he got outstanding care....not to say he wouldn't have from a local doc but I am glad we stayed. I am going to stick with this pedi for the new baby too - everyone keeps telling me that I will want someone more local when I have two but i am going to see how it goes - I am interested to see what others think.

[dana b]

ours is about 25 min. away. it doesn't bother me at all and we probably go more than the average person b/c we only do 1 vax at a time. now that dd only goes every six mos, it's *really* not a big deal.

[Kristen78]

My DD's pediatrician is about 8 minutes away. I like the short commute, especially with a newborn and in the winter.

[DisneyGirl]

I so could have writen your post. I moved about 8 months ago and I tossed around the idea when I first moved as to wheather or not i should change my ped because of the distance I would now have to drive at least 50 min one way. I thought and thought then i relized how the ehck can I change peds living in a new area if I have no one to recommend at ped to me. I was in no way going to pick someone out of the phone book or ask a neighbor who I have never spoken to before and go on what they say. So, I decided to just stay with the ped that delivered by kids and drive the 50 min. So far it has not been a problem and hopefully it will not become a problem.
just a note: I have two kids and one was a new born at the time when i moved here and I still didn't mind the drive.
So, i guess IMO i would stay where you are most Happy and maybe later on you will find a new ped closer to home.

[RyeRye]

Our ped is about 40 minutes away. It doesn't really bother me. The only downside for us is urgent care. For example, drivng to urgent care for an ear infection in the middle of the night sucks. See if your plan lets you chose an urgent care nearby. I might switch our plan just for that reason.

[Marie]

Thanks for the replies ladies! The urgent care isn't too much of an issue - we have two hospitals right by us, one with a pediatric urgent care. And since we have pretty decent insurance we can go anywhere without a referral so that helps a lot.

[daisysue62]

Our first pediatrician was in another town 30 minutes south of the bigger city we were living in because we thought we would be moving there shortly after dd was born. However, we changed our minds and wound up moving to a different town 20 minutes west. I switched pediatricians to one that is located in the bigger city we just moved from!

[Sasha]

The first pediatrician we went to was less than 10 minutes from our house. While the proximity was great, I did not like her at all. So we switched to a new one that is about 20-25 minutes away and I am so much happier. This ped. is right across the street from the children's hospital, so if there was a problem (and there has been!), we have just been sent directly across the street. The office is open 365 days a year and the staff their is very nice. It also helps that in addition, our pediatrician is VP of the non-profit organization I work for and her husband is my boss!

To me, finding a good pediatrician is much more important than the proximity of the doctor.

[usafwife]

The ped we use is in the same town we live in (we have about a 15/20 minute drive though). I never minded driving with DD when she was a newborn because she would usually fall asleep within a few minutes of being in the car (and still does this now).

If you are happy with the office I'd stay with them. You can always ask friends/coworkers and see whom they recommend.

[AlisonCO]

My ped's office is 20-25 minutes and it has been fine. (knock on wood) In 2.5 years I have only been to the ped for something other than a WBV twice. My kids are home with me and healthy so I can try to schedule the WBV's during convienent times. If I were you I would give it a try for a couple of months and see how you feel - if you end up having to go in to the ped alot, you might find that you do want one closer. Also as far as WBV's you do go alot initially, but after 6 months, they spread out alot.

[alisong]

Our ped's office is about five minutes away (or a 15 minute walk), and I'm so happy I chose the one close by. I'm not crazy about the actual doctor, but I love the small, low key, easy parking office. For anything bigger, or for urgent care, we'd end up at the same hospital 20 minutes (and super-hassle parking) away.

I guess I don't expect that much from well baby visits - it doesn't really matter to me that I don't love the ped. I trust his medical judgement, so that's the main thing.

[cartersmommy]

right now, our pediatrician's office is like 5 minutes away, but we're getting ready to move, and then it will be about 25-30 minutes away... i think it's fine unless you're a person that dreads commutes :)

[EJH]

Our ped. is about 10-15 minutes away from us. It has proven to be so necessary, with all the sick visits we've had thanks to the lovely combo of daycare and winter. :rolleyes: I can take DD to the 7AM walk-in, drop her at daycare and be at work by 9. If we didn't both work, I might not worry about it, but seeing as how we're so limited on time every day, we just didn't have an option.

Erin