4 Perks Your New Family Physician Should Offer
Choosing a family physician to work with is an excellent way to make sure all of your family's health needs are met without having to juggle a large network of different doctors. Your family physician should be able to serve your newborn, your teens, and your aging parents in addition to yourself. Here are a few perks your new family physician should be able to offer:
A Child-Friendly Waiting Room
One important perk the new family physician you decide to work with should offer is a waiting room that's designed with children in mind. Not only should the waiting room feature a kid's corner full of books, puzzles, and toys, but it should display educational cartoon stories on the wall.
While there should be plenty of seating and reading materials available for adults, there should also be a few seats and tables around that are small enough to accommodate small children. If the kids can stay occupied while waiting to see the doctor, the experience will be more pleasant for everyone involved.
An Open Door Policy
Another important perk you should receive as a patient of your new family physician is the ability to have anyone in your family attend doctor visits when a family member has an appointment. Instead of requiring that a parent be there, an older sibling, aunt, uncle, or grandparent should be able to accompany your child to the doctor instead if that's your preference.
If a family member has general questions about another family member's health, your doctor should have an open-door policy and be willing to meet with them to address the basics of those general questions – without giving away any personal information of course.
Multiple Scheduling Options
With a growing family to take care of, it can be tough to manage and schedule doctor's appointments for everyone. So it's important that the family physician you decide to work with offers multiple scheduling options for your convenience. You should be able to call, fill out an online form, or even text your healthcare provider when someone in your family needs to see them and receive an appointment confirmation within just a day or two.
A Dedicated Prescription Fulfillment Center
While you should be able to pick up any medications your doctor prescribes at any pharmacy you'd like, you should also have the ability to pick them up right after a doctor's appointment at a dedicated fulfillment center that's located nearby. Whether in your doctor's building or within walking distance, your family physician should have a working relationship with a reliable pharmacy that they can send prescriptions to as they're written so they can be available for patients within minutes.
This will eliminate the need for you to go out of your way to pick prescriptions up after appointments or wait longer than should be necessary for the medications to become available in the first place. You won't have to worry about figuring out where you'll fill the prescriptions.