Preparing For Your Appointment

Santi

When your child needs care, choosing a qualified, compassionate team is just the beginning. Knowing what to expect at your child’s MDA clinic appointment can ease concerns and help your visit go as smooth as possible. 

What to Expect: Your Child’s Evaluation

Your child will be evaluated by several members of our multidisciplinary team within the MDA clinic. In most cases, your child’s first visit will include a visit with Neurology, Pulmonary, Cardiology and our clinic’s Nurse practitioner. If your child does not have confirmatory genetic testing, he or she may only see Neurology until an official diagnosis has been determined to avoid billing insurance for sub-specialties that may not be indicated.

Our care center visits are longer than your typical doctor visit as your child will be seen by several members of our care center team. A new patient appointment takes on average 2-3 hours, with follow up appointments taking 45 minutes to an hour and a half. 

Appointment Day

To make your appointment as efficient as possible, please arrive 15-20 minutes before your scheduled appointment time to complete the check-in process. When you come to our care center for a clinic visit, you will need to bring specific information to help us provide the best care for your child.

We suggest you bring the following if this is your child’s first visit with our providers:

  • Insurance, Medicare or Medicaid card, and a picture ID such as a driver’s license. If you are in the U.S. and don’t have insurance, then be sure to get permission to self-pay when you make your child’s appointment and ask how much it will be.
  • List of current and previous doctors. A list of all the doctors your child has seen within the past two years, including your child’s primary and all of his or her specialists. This should include their specialty, location, and contact information.
  • Create a list of current medications. Bringing a list of your child’s medications and dosage is always helpful as it may be difficult for you to remember on the spot when asked. If your child is taking a variety of medications and supplements, It might be easiest to place all your child’s pill and supplement bottles into a bag to take with you—they will have your dosage written on them, so it will be easy for their doctors to figure out what they take each day.
  • Remember your child’s allergies or sensitivities. A list of your child’s allergies even if cause is unknown.
  • Genetic Testing
  • Bring your child’s medical records. If you do not have copies of your child’s medical records to bring with you, call our office ahead of time to coordinate the delivery of their records from your child’s pediatrician.
  • Family history. We will ask you about your family history at your child’s initial visit so we encourage you to bring notes about your family’s medical history that may affect your child’s health and care.
  • Write down your questions. Doctor’s appointments can be stressful and it may be difficult to remember all the questions you have had leading up to our appointment. To make sure you ask them, write your questions down ahead of time.
  • Entertainment. Small toys, electronic games, or books to keep your child entertained while he or she waits
  • Fight the hunger. We encourage you to bring some snacks or lunch as some of your child’s appointments may take a while.

We suggest you bring the following if this is not your child’s first appointment:

  • Insurance and ID. Insurance and identification information described above.
  • Health updates. A record of your symptoms or side effects, their frequency, and what triggers them if there have been any since your child’s last visit. You may not know all that information, but to the extent, you can record it will be helpful to both you and your child’s doctor.
  • Medications. Updates to any of the information above since the last time your child saw this doctor. For example, your child may have been prescribed a drug by another doctor and our clinic will need to know about it or your child’s family history may have changed.
  • Questions. A list of questions relevant to this follow up visit with your child’s doctor.
  • Food. Bring some snacks or lunch as some of your child’s appointments may take a while.