Choosing a Pediatrician: Key Criteria

Who should you provide with the most precious thing – your baby’s health? This experience will help you identify an experienced professional who is responsive, attentive, loves children and their work, and adheres to the fundamental rule of medicine: “do no harm.”

A visit to the pediatrician is often stressful for both mother and child. Sometimes you have to change doctors and medical institutions until you find the perfect doctor. There’s now a free online doctor search service in Ukraine, doc.ua, which significantly simplifies this process and offers a wider choice.

So, avoid:

• a doctor who doesn’t try to connect with the child. Children are very sensitive. The examination process is stressful for the baby; the doctor must try to calm and reassure a crying child.
• The doctor doesn’t listen to you, ignores your stories about the baby, and reacts sarcastically to your comments about pimples on the baby’s bottom and the number of yawns. The conversational style is “calm down, this is normal.” Remember: everything is important, from a pimple to hiccups. The doctor must listen to you thoroughly; seemingly unnecessary information can sometimes be a serious warning sign. A good doctor is concerned and interested in everything.
• The doctor often emphasizes their experience and expertise. During the appointment, the most important thing is your baby. All unnecessary conversations take up the already limited time of the appointment, and experience and age are not always an indicator of professionalism.
• The doctor prescribes unfounded treatment. Our doctors don’t like to diagnose, only treat; more precisely, they like to treat symptoms without digging deeper into the underlying disease. Especially if the doctor offers you to buy a “miracle drug” right in their office. (Doctors often moonlight in network marketing and often resort to dietary supplements, since most gullible patients don’t question the doctor’s prescription; they also advise buying the drug only from a specific pharmacy or having tests and examinations at a specific medical facility.)
• The doctor prescribes unfounded tests (often expensive diagnostics), “get them done and then we’ll see.” They should clearly justify and explain to you what they’re for and what they’ll help determine.
• The doctor is irritated by questions about contraindications and compatibility with treatments. “Am I a doctor or are you? Did you read this online?” – these kinds of questions are asked if you suddenly doubt the appropriateness of a prescription. The doctor should provide reasons for the chosen treatment method.

A good doctor should not only wash their hands before an appointment. They should also be willing to give their phone number. A good doctor will never, under any circumstances, behave unprofessionally: talk about their small salary, or talk on the phone during an examination. A good doctor has little free time, as they are in demand and have many people waiting for an appointment. And the most important indicator is that your baby feels comfortable with them, and your maternal intuition tells you they can be trusted.