Pediatrician Interview Rave

My aunt suggested her pediatrician to me and I met with him yesterday. I had some very particular qualities I was looking for and this dr surpassed them all.

His name is Dr. Constantatos in West Babylon. He is a single practioner which was my biggest want/need. He is in his mid 40's so I am pretty sure he will be arounf for a good length of time before retiring. He is an advocate for vaccines but is willing to space them out. He is open 6 days a week and has 1 late night and he even gives out his cell # for emergencys after hours.

The last thing he said is what really made me know I made the right decision. He said when he opened his practice his hopes was to be like the old fashioned dr's where he knew every patient and parent and could create long meaningful relationships with them.

So if you are looking for a dr in that area and dont want to be part of those huge practices that are so common right now, go meet with Dr. C, I am sure you will be impressed as well

Re: Pediatrician Interview Rave

Glad to hear you had a good ped experience! It's certainly relaxing to know you're set as far as who the baby will see after birth!

Can I ask why you wanted a single practitioner? I'm obviously not in the market for someone up there (I live in NC now) but one of the reasons I chose the pediatrics group I did is because they have 9 doctors so there is always someone available. Once you get to know the doctors, you can choose to continue to see the same person repeatedly or choose to see whomever is available according to your availability. I really liked that.

They also have privileges at the hospital I'm delivering at and will come see the baby as soon as she's born, and see us in the hospital.

Our group is open M-F 8:30-5:30, Saturday 8:30 - 11:30, and have a "sick child" clinic every morning from 7:30 - 8 every morning where you can drop in if your child has a fever or a sore throat, which I thought was great since you can bring your child there before school to see if they should go to school or not that day. They also have a triage line set up 24 hours a day for emergency calls and questions, and the fee (which is only $10 anyway) is waived if the child ends up having to go to the ER or to see the doctor the next day.

I was nervous about choosing a pediatrician because I never really grew up with one (my father just diagnosed me at home and mostly told me I was faking everything) but since neither DH nor I are in the medical field, I wanted to be somewhere I can trust. I don't know if I'm making the best choice, but this group does come highly recommended, so hopefully it'll work for us and they'll do right by our baby.

Re: Pediatrician Interview Rave

Thats a good question. I guess it all started when i switched from a big practice OB/GYN to a single dr OB/GYN.

I felt so much more comfortable just dealing with one person, I loved the individualized attention and how we really got to know one another. I hated when I would go to the big practice one dr would say blue and the other would say red and it was confusing.

I want that same attention for my child. This dr is available 6 days a week and said he has never turned a patient away when they call and say the baby is sick and needs to be seen. He will be the only one to treat my child, know my child, and that will make the trust come faster for me as a new mom.

Believe me, almost every one of my friends use a big practice and I do not see anything wrong with it, this is just something that has been important to me for a while now and I am happy I found someone who meets my criteria, now if only he could get really old fashioned and do some house calls LOL

Re: Pediatrician Interview Rave

That sounds wonderful! I'm so happy that you found someone like that for your child.

I completely understand your reasoning, and also at the same time feel good about my decision. It's great to hear that there are still people out there like your doctor!