Fairfax Pediatrics Associates

My twins are two now and we’ve always had a great experience at Fairfax Pediatrics. We’ve seen several doctors and always been able to get an appointment easily. There are two locations and the offices are bright, beautiful, clean, and modern. All of the nurses have been nice and we never have to wait very long in the waiting room. I would (and have) recommended this practice to my new mom friends.

I have been going here since my son was born about six months ago. I absolutely loved this practice for his regular appointments and check ups. My son had a lingering case of jaundice thus, he has been there many times. The receptionists are nice and efficient, the Doctors are all great, Dr. Srinivasa is our favorite. If based solely on our previous visits, I would give the practice at least a 4. Unfortunately, today, I had a horrible experience with the nurse who was apparently trying to determine whether or not my son should come in. I was trying to get him an appointment for his stuffy nose, a cough that sounded like he had mucous and loss of appetite. Although his condition was stable, he definitely needed to get checked out. The nurse told me that my options were A. Either he is in such a bad condition that we have to rush him to the ER or B. He can’t get an appointment that day because their schedule didn’t look too good. She gave me an appointment then, called me back 10 minutes later to tell me that appointment was no longer available-​she hadn’t refreshed the page when she saw an opening. She then went on to say that she does have some slots, but that she doesn’t know if his condition was bad enough to give him a slot. The other option was that he get there in 15 minutes time, but in the meantime, she spent 10 minutes on the phone with me asking me more questions and if I didn’t make that 15 minute deadline then, we wouldn’t get an appointment. She went out of her way to diagnose him over the phone as either so bad that he needs to go to the hospital or he can wait till the next day or later. The whole conversation was not only very awkward as she was playing Doctor on the phone, but it was very rude and unreasonable. There was a thin line between whether or not he should come in, or go to the hospital and she, the nurse, would determine that instead of having a Doctor determine that. He ended up not getting an appointment and it didn’t seem to bother her one bit. It truly is very unfortunate that someone like that works in a Pediatric office. Great practice otherwise, but if it’s an immediate appointment you need for your child, good luck getting past the nurse to get that appointment. Very argumentative when all I was trying to do was get an appointment for my sick son.

This place has made transitioning our babies from the NICU TERRIBLE. Out of the three appointments we’ve had: the first we waited over 20 minutes with our preemie out amongst a bunch of sick kids (their sick and well area is not adequately separated) then asked for us to undress our baby to not do anything with her for a half hour. At the second appointment, the doctor called out sick and lost all of our paperwork from the first appointment. Third appointment, the Doctor –wait for it – called out sick and they moved us to later in the day then said our little one was the problem because she would need a full hour since she was just discharged from the NICU. RUN FROM THIS PRACTICE.

One of the advice nurses tried to convince us our newborn didn’t have diarrhea. This could be something more serious but she blew us off as we were «first time parents» and it was” normal” for her poop to be extremely watery. So glad I switched, we found out she really did have a stomach bug and could have gotten easily dehydrated. Our new dr suggested probiotics and simple steps to keep her hydrated and healthy after being on amoxicillin for 2 months whereas these doctors didn’t really think it would make a difference. Our new doctor lets us know what steps to take to help our baby whereas the doctors we met here brush off the baby’s symptoms as normal. I have complete confidence in my new doctor that if something serious were to happen they would catch it in time to help her, whereas these doctors wouldn’t spend the time really caring what you have to say (after all, you are the one who can speak for the baby). If you haven’t found a doctor at this practice you like I would SWITCH. One key factor of a good pediatrician is one who will LISTEN. I feel like explaining symptoms or concerns falls on deaf ears here. We have seen about 4 doctors here. So I can’t speak for all. And one advice nurse we called was pretty attentive so I can’t say all of them will treat you with disdain.

The receptionists are nice but when I returned a call from one of the advice nurse, she was so busy I had to be put on hold and leave the same message again. I finally got to talk to her and when I mentioned I just missed her call, she says she didn’t call me! It’s okay if you don’t remember if you called me or not but you don’t have to be mean and arrogant. The way she said was rude and somewhat upsetting. As if i had done something wrong. If you are busy hire yourself an assistant and don’t take it out on your clients. The receptionist said she was the only advice nurse working this morning. Then she gives me a 5:30 appointment for a sick child saying that everybody is booked until then. She said either take this or go to urgent care. Doesn’t sound like caring their clients at all. No point of choosing a pediatrician when we are offered to go to urgent care, I still have ber voicemail so I don’t know who she was reffering to when she said she didn’t call me. Definitely switching to a less volume office.