Pullman & Ariza Pediatrics

My 3 kids, including the oldest (now 10) went through Dr. Pullman and I have to say we have complete trust in her diagnosis. I value her experience and knowledge the most. She was also professional and patient with our questions.
I am giving 4 stars because of the wait times we sometimes experienced, but I have to say that in the last year it has improved.

Our three year old has been a patient of Dr. Pullman since he was an infant. We find her pleasant and very professional. We had some issues when our child was an infant and Dr. Pullman spent hours (yes hours) working with us to resolve them and reassure us, even going so far as to call us in the evening to check on progress. She’s been pediatrician for decades and a senior pediatrician at Children’s Hospital so I trust her judgment. She gives practical advice and really pays attention. She’s patient and kind and our son feels very comfortable with her. We’ve also seen Dr. Ariza and also think she is a very good pediatrician. We plan to continue to use this practice and highly recommend it.
I love that they have a walk-​in hour from 8 – 9 each morning and I’m surprised that the reviewer below criticized how long it took to see the doctor — of course if you show up to a walk-​in towards the middle or end there are going to be lots of other kids ahead of yours. I’ve shown up at 8am several times and have never had to wait long.

I contacted P&A before giving birth and they told me that one of their med staff would come and visit me at the hospital after my son was born in order to do the first check up. No one came, despite numerous efforts by the hospital staff to contact them.
At the two-​week check-​up, the first thing Dr Pullman said to me was «mom, you look tired, you should get more sleep». Thank you, I have a newborn baby. She then proceeded to man-​handle my son in the freezing cold exam room while he was screaming like crazy with no kind words or efforts to soothe him — very little compassion for a children’s doctor.
The last straw was when they gave me Metabolic Screening results for the wrong child, telling me that my child had a genetic disorder «that was the best of genetic disorders, so no need to worry». Not until I got home and looked over the paperwork on my own did I realize the results were for another child!
On multiple fronts, this peds service was below average. The one exception was Dr Grace –she was lovely, a great communicator, and very compassionate! But these experiences as a whole made it impossible for us to stay.

Nothing but great care

We are new to DC from NYC, and read a few recommendations on mommy blogs. Nowhere does it state on their website that they only accept newborns. I was immediately placed on hold for 10 minutes before I was more or less abruptly informed that my 2 ½ year old could or would not be taken. Including Googling due diligence, and then the obligatory visit to United Healthcare site to determine their «in-​network» status… what a waste of my time.
How on earth does this practice show up as 4 stars based on ONE review? I think it’s bloody ridiculous that Unilocal has hidden TWELVE filtered reviews that would have reduced this practice to 1 or 2 stars at best. Discounting the single-​review users, that’s a 2, a 2, a 1 and a 1.
I believe that’s called consensus: P&A is at the very least a poorly run practice.

NO, just don’t do it. We have been requesting our kids’ medical records for two months now – yes, two months! First in writing, and now with weekly phone calls. One child has one appointment and the other one had two appointments before we decided to hit the road.

We must be naïve, easy to please, or just super lucky, because I honestly don’t think P&A is all that bad. Then again, we’ve only been twice, and the only doctor we’ve seen is Dr. Anderson, so take this review for what it’s worth.
Some background: we used to go to Capitol Medical Group (see that review) and absolutely adore the doctors there. Alas, CMG doesn’t take our new insurance, and hence our move to P&A.
Dr. Anderson may not be warm and fuzzy, but I found her to be perfectly pleasant. (Besides, I’m looking for a doctor, not a BFF.) She was also thorough, patient, generous with advice without being pushy or condescending, and last, but not least, prompt!
The admin staff could be friendlier, but no one’s been rude or curt. The nurse we saw on our sick visit last week was very sweet and got a huge smile out of my son, despite the fact that he was getting really antsy from the wait. Another nurse did leave us waiting for 45 minutes in the exam room for a test result (we left after telling the front desk to call us with the information), but at least she apologized profusely when she called us later.
They have sick hour from 8 to 9 every morning, i.e., a sick child can be seen during that time without an appointment. The wait can be long, though — I think we showed up at 8:30 but weren’t seen until 9:30. Hmmm, should have gone around the corner to Trade Joes. Thai Lime & Chile Peanuts!

So you decide… as for us we will never go back there again and I am posting this on pretty much any site I can find! At the end of the day no harm was done, but what if she had given her an adult dose… what if she had given her the wrong medicine… a tired, hungry and overworked (I am not going to say incompetent since I don’t think I am qualified to make that judgement) nurse could have really hurt our child through simple carelessness. Not cool in my book!

Awful. Terrible.
Where do I start? 2 hour waits to see someone or being forgotten about entirely until you stick your head out the door to remind them you are still there. Nurse practitioners and doctors telling me to undress my child in their freezing consult rooms then having to wait through the entire consultation with the child wrapped in nothing but a blanket for them to do the physical examination. Being given formula despite telling them repeatly I wanted to exclusively breastfeed — no other options were discussed. Having to tell the nurse practitioner basic information about my daughter at every visit even though it should have already been on file. The rudest front office staff ever who tried to blame me for not turning up to an appointment that was clearly scheduled incorrectly. A doctor who would only look at my husband during consultations — even when talking about breastfeeding.
There is nothing good about this practice other than its location in downtown DC.