Children’s Medical Associates Of Northern Virginia

I am a fan. I have been taking my 6 and 8 y/​o boys here since birth.
I think Dr. Kishi is great! He has been my go to guy because he give us good advice.
Keep in mind this is a pediatrician’s office and as such they practice general medicine.
I must say that generally many of our children’s maladies can be solved at the office.
If there is a specific issue these guys will be there for you every step of the way at the hospital too.
My advice is to try all of the Doctors see which one fits with your family best.
The office is clean, the nurses are great, parking is free, the sushi place near the office is really good.
I would recommend them.

Love it here!!! All the docs are very knowledgeable and they care. :)

We’ve been going to CMA since my daughter was 3 days old. Overall, I’m pleased with the practice. The hours are fantastic (up to 7pm on certain days) and they have Saturday sick appointments in Alexandria and Saturday and Sunday sick appointments in Fairfax. Once I arrive, I’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes to see our doctor/​NP. I can usually speak to a nurse on the phone within 5 – 10 minutes depending on the day/​time I call.
With that being said, there are a few thing that give me pause. There is no «sick waiting room»; however, when I took my daughter in for a sick appointment, we didn’t even wait in the waiting room. We were immediately taken to a room. When my daughter was an infant, they immediately took me to a room — no waiting in the waiting room. Some of the doctors have a less than pleasant bed side manner and didn’t seem to pay attention. I know they see A LOT of children and I know my daughter has a somewhat gender neutral name and all babies don’t look like a particular sex; however, on more than one occasion I had two different doctors ask how my son was doing. At the very least, read the chart and know my daughter’s sex and her name. I didn’t see those two doctors again. One of those same doctors told me she had colic after I said that she occasionally cries at night and was very dismissive of my concerns regarding a blocked tear duct.
At my daughter’s six month appointment, we found a doctor that gets us, my first time mom worries, has a great bed side manner, and was extremely supportive of baby-​led weaning. Dr. Playforth is hands-​down, the best pediatrician we’ve seen. I make all my appointments with her now. We are no longer rushed in and out within 5 minutes. I highly recommend her.
The lactation consultants and nurse practitioners are also amazing. I saw Melissa Goldblatt on three occasions within the first two weeks to make sure my daughter and I had the nursing thing down. She weighed her before/​after a feeding and really took the time to alleviate my concerns/​anxiety about breastfeeding.

The nurse practitioners and lactation consultants at this practice have been great — supportive, informative, helpful and took their time and answered my questions. I would give 5 stars to the NPs and 0 to the physicians. The doctor we saw (Dr.Tae) was terrible. She told us to only feed my 4 week old «4oz. every 4 hours» to avoid «gassiness» even though we told her he wasn’t spitting up very much. We tried it for a day and watching your baby starve and cry because he is hungry and staring up into your eyes for help and not meeting his needs was horrifying. We went back to on demand feeding the next day and he is much happier and still has no gas problems. When I did some research, it turns out that interval feeding a baby is outdated medical advice that is opposed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization and is associated with poor weight gain, dehydration, involuntary weaning, inadequate and decreasing milk supply in breastfeeding mothers, and, later in life, cognitive delays, behavioral problems and failure to thrive. Why would CMA doctors be recommending something that is not supported by evidence, medical science or supported by any medical association!!! I don’t want to be in a practice where I have to second-​guess and double check my pediatrician because she might be spouting utter bullshit. Dr. Tae: maybe you should clear your schedule and read up in some medical journals before you advise your patients to do something that is harmful to their health and well-​being.

I have no complaints with this practice. We came here after leaving ALL Pediatrics with a really bad experience. It was recommended by someone I work with and I’ve been very pleased. Dr. Playforth is my favorite but everyone we’ve seen has been good. They are prompt at calling you back if you have to call the after hours line when your kid has a fever in the middle of the night and they have extended hours and Saturday hours so I’ve never had a problem being seen. I don’t particularly like the layout of the office but if that’s the only thing I can think of to complain about I think they’re doing a pretty good job.

I was a huge fan of this practice until my daughter suffered from an allergic reaction to her varicella vaccine which I was bullied into getting by a nurse (this was one of the few vaccines I was planning on skipping). I began to ask very detailed and specific questions regarding my daughters reaction and was told her reaction was «typical» despite the CDC telling me it was not and the more questions I was asked the more I was ignored. A second and third opinion confirmed what I had suspected all along… a severe allergic reaction. CMA prides themselves on their vaccination rates so much so that they were willing to potentially risk the life of my daughter by continuing to push vaccines without investigating what triggered her allergic reaction. If you have any reservations about vaccines then this is absolutely not the place for you.
On a separate occasion at 6 months my daughter had a double ear infection and Dr. Allard was cleaning my daughters ears and dropped the tool on the dirty floor then proceeded to use it again. She was not pleased when I told her to get a replacement and her bedside manor became absolutely horrid.

To be clear, my rating and experience was based on a pre-​natal tour not because I go to this office.
First, if you want to follow a delayed or alternative vaccine schedule, they won’t let you so don’t bother going here.
It was my husband and one other couple on the tour. After introductions the nurse immediately said, «I will forget your names but let’s go» and started walking down the hall. Really? There are four people and you will forget our names? Ok– that is fine but don’t say it like that. It came off as if she didn’t even listen when we introduced ourselves.
The office is older but clean. They are just now transitioning to electronic records and the process is still going on. No emailing your doctor or scheduling appointments online. All of these things were a turn off to me.
The nurse also told me it was ‘interesting’ that I was choosing a homebirth. I didn’t bother to ask her to elaborate. With her tone, I knew what she meant. I didn’t come here to get judged on my birth decision. I don’t judge anyone else on their decisions.
She ran through the tour, spoke fast, but did ask us if we had any questions. It just all seemed so impersonal though. She wasn’t rude but just not welcoming either.
We rode the elevator down with the other couple and they didn’t seem too impressed either. Definitely not choosing this practice.

I’ve had my children at this practice for the last two years and we’re happy with it. They have great hours, I can always reach a nurse by phone, I never wait long for appointments, they can get you in easily for an emergency appointment, their front desk is very, very friendly, they’re prompt about filling out forms, and we’ve been happy with every single practitioner. Notably, I particularly love having appointments with the nurse practitioners who are great about/​able to spend more time talking to us.
My only complaints: 1) No sick room; 2) I HATE that they have toys/​playhouse in the waiting room. I can’t imagine those toys are cleaned often enough. And, folks, those toys are in the waiting room where people bring their sick children; and 3) for some reason, they will not perform a PKU test on infants. When my third daughter was born, her results — from a hospital lab — came back w/​an «interfering substance,» which required us to have the test retaken. It would have been much easier to have this done on site, but for the two re-​takes, we had to go to the hospital.
Also, sometimes I am a bit overwhelmed by the size of the practice and only had concerns about how busy the practice is one time — it was around back-​to-​school time and there was a long line waiting to check out. But this was really unusual. Turns out, besides the heavy back-​to-​school volume, the office was in the process of implementing a new software system (never fun), so things were running slower than usual. But, for us, that’s been an anomaly. And, I suppose, there’s a reason the office is busy: they do a great, great job!

Pretty pleased with this office. Like most places, some of their doctors are better than others. They have PLENTY of doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and lactation consultants. They have Saturday hours and also stay open late on Wednesdays.
They are not overly pushy on vaccinating your kids, they will let you space the vaccines out or postpones the ones that aren’t as urgent, which is great. Basically YOU have control over YOUR kid. Also, they spend PLENTY of time with you, answering questions, listening to your concerns.
The wait isn’t bad at all. There have been times where they saw me immediately and other times where they had us wait for about 20 minutes, which isn’t too bad. They have plenty of toys and books in the waiting room.
Oh and… the nurses answer the phones so you can ask them whatever you want. They really take their time with you and are excellent. If you call super early in the mornings, sometimes one of the doctors answers the phone.
In case your child is sick and needs to come in the same, they have appointments available.
Payment is a breeze! Often times I have my hands full with my daughter, a diaper bag, etc. I just tell the front desk that I’ll pay them by phone and they are fine with that.
Minus one star because Dr. Allard seems very inexperienced.
Oh and… free parking!

I love this priactice. Like, ADORE this practice. Have only had 1 bad experience, but have learned from my mistake. If at all possible, try to be seen by Dr. Atiyeh. He is the most down to earth, friendly, knowledgeable doctor on the planet. My daughter isn’t terrified of doctors anymore, thanks to him. 100 000% recommend. Their hours are fabulous, the nurses are wonderful, I can’t ask for more.

I am going to give them 4 stars because 8 out of 10 times I have been very happy with them. They spend a lot of time with you if necessary or not dependent on what you want and will see you the day of — that is a plus. The nurses that answer the phones are always helpful and the phone in doctor hours are very helpful. There really isn’t anyone there we don’t like but we had two incidents with the same nurse practitioner that misdiagnosed my sons and both times it involved wheezing. I am not going to call out anyone by name but its interesting as to how both times and different kids got misdiagnosed for the same thing by the same person. It was not enough to make me stop going to this practice — just don’t go to that NP anymore. All in all it is a good place to go. Though I will say that the two times in almost 6 years that I have had to call in after hours, the on –call doctor who was pleasant as punch in person, wasn’t that nice when being called after hours. Then again, who likes being on-​call?

We have a 4-​month old, so we have been here 4 times so far for check-​ups, plus once for a lactation consultation.
We chose this practice when our daughter, who was born at 34 weeks, was being discharged from the NICU. Dr. Tae says in her bio that she is a preemie parent herself, so we’ve chosen to see her so far, although we will probably start to branch out after her 6-​month appointment. We like Dr. Tae a lot — my husband in particular is a big fan of her down-​to-​earth and frank manner. She definitely seems very human and approachable. Things do get a bit rushed at this practice, but not to the point where I have ever felt like my questions were being brushed off. I always leave feeling good about how my daughter is doing, which is a big thing for a preemie mom.
We also did a lactation consultation with Theresa. I think it was more helpful for peace of mind/​confidence than for actual practical suggestions/​steps/​advice, but I have heard that about lactation consultants in general. The lactation consultant in the hospital was much more in tune with the specific challenges of breastfeeding a preemie, but that is certainly to be expected since the hospital one sees preemies every day. Overall, I still think the consultation was worth it just for feeling like I was doing the right things. I think it’s a huge plus that they have such a nice lactation setup on site at CMA. They can do weighed feedings, and you can buy the right breastfeeding products directly from them after your appt.
In fact, I think that’s one of the strengths of the practice overall — they have enough variety of doctors and services to be a one-​stop-​shop for most things. Most of what you are looking for can be found here, and you can likely find a doctor to suit your style. The only exception would be if you are anti-​vaccination. This practice is strongly pro-​vax, and so are we so that’s great for us, but if you aren’t, you might not feel so welcome here.

I love this practice! I have 2 yo twins, and we switched from pediatrics of Arlington. CMA is by far the quickest doctor’s office I have ever been to, with my children or by myself. They are patient and they answer all of my questions without attitude (eh hmm pediatrics of Arlington…). All of the doctors I have seen are great — just recently dr. Wallen. The nurses are very knowledgeable and patient too.

Dr. Roman M. Kishi is terrible. my daughter, who is 7 months old, is a patient at the practice, and we called when my daughter was vomiting and had a terrible rash. He was the doctor on call, and he was rude and unhelpful. When I asked about the rash, he said he needed to see it to judge it. No, really? it’s 10 pm at night, do you want to come over? or do I take a rash to the emergency room? He had no helpful suggestions, and when I asked more questions he was dismissive and mocked me. We like our regular doctor but we are switching practices so that I don’t get stuck with this guy when my daughter is actually really sick. My friend who is a pediatrician in Chicago was more help.