Pediatrician vs General Practioner

Krystal - posted on 03/31/2010

hi i to see my GP, my son has my GP to and has done since he was born and i absolutely love her, shes an old fashioned doctor to and is fantastic, obviously she knows about all the new stuff but i told her i would rather her be her old fashioned self as i trust her old fashioned advice. she told me things to do with my son that she did with her own children and she has 5, i completely trust her 2000% and i trust her with my sons life to. im very happy with the choice i made. :)

Iridescent - posted on 03/31/2010

There are no pediatricians available in any nearby area for us, so we see a GP. The ones we chose have a history of being research doctors on the disease our family suffers from, which is incredibly rare and really amazed us all that there was one available that knew what it was. He also specialized in child development and had more education on hearing than the typical GP. So we love having him. Most of the medical personnel available here is CNP and PA and while some are competent, most have no idea how to treat even a common cold as it requires intensive treatment and hospitalization for our family.

Deborah - posted on 03/31/2010

I've been seeing the same general practioner since college when I moved to a new town. I'm now in my 40's. With my first child, I tried a pediatiritian. I was new to parenting, so I took his advice on everything and ignored my own instincts. Finally, at a visit to my doctor, I asked him a few questions about my daughter. He gave sound, understandable advice that he had used on his own kids. I immediately switched my child to his care and all four of my children are now his patients. I, too, love the fact that we all see the same doctor.

Andrea - posted on 03/31/2010

I'm from Canada as well. My son was born 9 weeks early and saw a pediatrician before he was discharged at 5 weeks old. He asked if he could follow my son until he is 3 years old so I accepted. Once he is discharged from the pediatrician, he will automatically be seen by family doctor.

Katarina - posted on 03/31/2010

I live in British Columbia, so yes our health care system is fantastic, except the Dr. shortages are quite common. My one complaint is our General Practioners in the lower mainland DON'T deliver babies so you get refered to an OB mid pregnancy.

Brandy - posted on 03/31/2010

I live in Canada where health care is free but we are having shortages of medical staff all over the country. We don't pay to see a doctor, have an x-ray, bloodwork, MRI or anything like that. In fact, the only thing we pay for is prescriptions. Before you think I'm just bragging, my point is that while we have all that for free, we can't really choose our own doctors. There is a list for each city of GP's that are excepting patients which is usually empty unless you happen to look it up right when a new doctor comes to town and they fill up within a few weeks. If you are lucky, you have a family doctor (which we do), if not, you have to go to a walk-in clinic where you could wait 6 hours for all you know and who knows what doctor you are going to see. If you need to see a specialist for anything, the only way you are going to get an appointment is to be referred to one by your family doctor or doctor at the walk-in clinic. We have 4 pediaticians in my city of 80000 people not to mention all of the smaller towns within about 200 miles because none of them have pediatricians. So we don't have a choice of whether we see a pediatrician or GP. When there is a problem that my GP doesn't know how to fix or feels uncomfortable with, she will refer us to a pediatrician or appropriate specialist.