How much can a Pediatrician do?

[bekkyboo]

G has finally been given an appointment with the pediatrician out patients at our local hospital!!

We were on the list for an allergist at one of the big city hospitals, but later found out they dont have one :banghead:

The appointment is for the 8/8 - so just over a week away!! But im curious what they might actually be able to do.

Will they be able to order all the testing and such and find out whats going on - or will we still have to wait for an allergist?

Any insight would be great :)

[TreeFrog]

The appointment is for the 8/8 - so just over a week away!! But im curious what they might actually be able to do.

Will they be able to order all the testing and such and find out whats going on - or will we still have to wait for an allergist?

Any insight would be great :)

Hi there!:wave:

Generally, a Paediatrician can issue some intial blood tests (inc the preliminary one for Coeliacs etc) and stool sample tests as a preliminary check for any suspected gut allergies. Then if they come up positive, they work with an intial diagnosis. After all that with us, we then went and saw an Allergist who did the skin scratch/pr!ck test and Patch Test (the patches on the back to test for gut alergies. This takes a few days). They also do further blood testing.

Also, some Paediatricians may have a different approach. We have relatives with a child with Allergies,and their Paeds approach was slightly different as the child was a little older (2 years old) and demonstrated different types of reactions.

Basically, the Paediatrician should get you on the right track with intial testing, and then later referrals for any other relevant testing to any other applicable specialists. They will be more specific than your GP in this area too. The Paed will also regularly monitor your child to see how they are progressing, even if they also see an Allergist. You may see your Paed every 6 weeks to 3 months etc as example. They wil probably monitior weight, growth and any other relevant issues with the allergies.

Hope that is of some help anyway. All the best for your appointment! Make sure to ask lots of questions :)

[bekkyboo]

thanks heaps for that... I suppose that a referral from a paed could fast track an appointment to an allergist anyway - in comparision to a GP anyway.

[TreeFrog]

thanks heaps for that... I suppose that a referral from a paed could fast track an appointment to an allergist anyway - in comparision to a GP anyway.

Yep, it sure can:) . It can really speed things up.

I hope that you get everything sorted out. So great that you got in to see someone :thumbsup:

[punkbaby]

I find that (no offence to gps here) that paed tend to know where to go straight up, they work with kids everyday and can really hit the nailon the head when it comes to specilists and referrals etc. We never really had to wait that long with our referrals usually about 2-3 weeks which is pretty good considering