As Chief Home Officer, you’re in charge of family excellence. This means that everyone in your family gets the best of everything you can give them, and this includes healthcare. Yet, the conventional pediatric healthcare journey in Puerto Rico can often feel like a daunting maze. Long waits for a pediatrician or specialist, crowded emergency rooms, and the unease of sharing space with sick children during regular checkups are all too familiar. Maintaining communication with pediatricians for follow-up care or securing the necessary medical clearances for school adds to the challenge.

Moving your family to Puerto Rico is a significant adventure filled with exciting possibilities and unique cultural experiences. However, alongside the excitement, moving means that expat moms and busy professionals will find a series of challenges. Language barriers, transportation issues, and healthcare system differences, especially when seeking quality medical care for their children. In this comprehensive guide, we'll help you navigate these challenges and find the pediatric care clinic in Puerto Rico who understands your family's needs in this new setting.

There are little things more frustrating in Puerto Rico than trying to make a medical appointment. Primary care doctors, specialists, and more have become harder to find, and many are not accepting new patients. This panorama has also become a reality when it comes to pediatric care. 

A study conducted in 2011 to analyze the pediatricians' profile in Puerto Rico revealed that the median age of pediatricians in Puerto Rico was 54 years old (compared with 42 and 43 years old in the mainland US). Ten years later, the Puerto Rico Pediatrics Society (SPP by its acronym in Spanish) showed that 49% of pediatricians on the island are over 60 years old, that the median age for retirement is 67, and that 28% of the 331 pediatricians who completed the survey have a general pediatric practice in two municipalities or more. 

In addition, health insurance companies have not increased their premiums in 25 years, affecting pediatricians and the number of medical students who decide to major in general pediatrics, favoring subspecialties and threatening the stability of pediatrics in Puerto Rico. The plot thickens when you add hospitals in the mix and the lack of urgent and around-the-clock care on the island.

We’ve talked to a lot of parents, and these are their top five pediatric health challenges (and how Pravan Kids addresses them):

When it comes to kids, things can happen in a blink of an eye. They might be peacefully playing at one moment, and in the next, you’re running to the emergency room after a fall or because there’s a sudden fever. All parents want to avoid the emergency room, especially in Puerto Rico. Asides from the risk of catching a bug in the hospital, the long waits can be a challenge, especially with small children.

Any parent knows that the pediatrician is one of the most important doctors in their lives. Is a doctor-patient relationship that goes beyond knowledge; it needs trust to flourish since it will last until the child is 21 years old. Before settling for a pediatrician, one would suggest research, making a list, visiting their offices, and learning about their approaches. 

However, doing that research has become extremely difficult in Puerto Rico. In part due to the brain/doctor drain of the past two decades and the retirement of prominent doctors. The limited availability of these specialists has resulted in longer waiting lists, overcrowded pediatric offices, and decreased doctor-patient time per visit.