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Evaluating a Doctor's Skill and Care - 9/5/2008 10:54:41 AM
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solomonsprayer
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For those of us who are not medical professionals, how do you evaluate your doctor's level of skill, reputation, and care?
I know they have online ratings sights, but those are first anonymous and self-submitted ratings with a small smaple size, and secondly, many doctors do not have ratings at all yet. So I do not trrust those.
I can tell generally when a doctor is nice and caring and patient, but in terms of their actual skills, reputation, and level of proficiency, I find it hard to tell....without seeing multiple doctors.
Also, have you ever had a doctor criticize another doctor? How do you know what to trust?
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RE: Evaluating a Doctor's Skill and Care - 9/5/2008 4:19:06 PM
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pumpkin
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first, I usually know what's wrong with me when I go to a doctor, and I usually know what treatments have worked previously. So, I usually know if they are a "good" doctor that way... plus if they take the time to really listen to me.
Second, if I ever see a doctor who I feel does not like me, or does not listen to me. I never see them again.
Third, no, I've never really heard a doctor speak ill of another doctor, but I have asked them which doctor they personally would see if they needed something. They are usually willing to answer the question for me.
I would say either with time, or with seeing several doctors you will eventually figure out who is "good" and who is "bad."
Oh, I forgot...
I was looking for a specific type of doctor, and I did some asking around of all the people I knew who had seen that type of doctor. I then did some research online on the most common recommendation. I found that he was awarded things, and had done research to find ways to improve common testing, and to make it less painful. I went to see him and I felt that he really took his time with me, and he seemed very knowledgeable, and I decided to change to him. I have never regretted it. =)
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RE: Evaluating a Doctor's Skill and Care - 9/5/2008 11:35:56 PM
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cow451
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I pay attention to who doctors nurses and other healthcare workers see. Surgical staff know which surgeons are competent, for example.
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RE: Evaluating a Doctor's Skill and Care - 9/10/2008 7:12:41 AM
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ninjai
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Joined: 9/10/2008
From: new zealand
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I'm living in the Philippines at the moment I've been seeing a Gastrointestinal doctor. She's made me get the same blood tests 3 times all from different places and they all come back with the same results. Negative! She seems to no idea what I have but she just want's to keep making me get stool tests. I'm just about over it.
So if I was you guy's I'd consider myself I'm not seeing a doctor in a third world country. 
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RE: Evaluating a Doctor's Skill and Care - 9/12/2008 1:19:47 AM
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solomonsprayer
Posts: 866
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ninjai
I'm living in the Philippines at the moment I've been seeing a Gastrointestinal doctor. She's made me get the same blood tests 3 times all from different places and they all come back with the same results. Negative! She seems to no idea what I have but she just want's to keep making me get stool tests. I'm just about over it.
So if I was you guy's I'd consider myself I'm not seeing a doctor in a third world country.
Yeah, three duplicate tests sounds like a lot. I guess it's hard to know whether a doctor is genuinely concerned and trying to confirm and/or find new results or is incompetent.
Third World country eh? ...I'm assuming you don't have a lot of options to see someone else?
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RE: Evaluating a Doctor's Skill and Care - 9/12/2008 1:32:59 AM
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solomonsprayer
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quote:
ORIGINAL: pumpkin
Second, if I ever see a doctor who I feel does not like me, or does not listen to me. I never see them again.
Third, no, I've never really heard a doctor speak ill of another doctor, but I have asked them which doctor they personally would see if they needed something. They are usually willing to answer the question for me.
I would say either with time, or with seeing several doctors you will eventually figure out who is "good" and who is "bad."
Hmm, my current specialist is someone who was highly recommended to me, but seems a bit curt at times. ...I've seen her about five times. She is never rude and very nice (always smiles and a friendly tone), but just seems to not have time to answer questions. She'll rush through questions and then refer me to the internet, saying I can look up the rest. I used to take that the wrong way and thought maybe she didn't like me for some reason, but then realized she was just busy and was going over the 15-minute/per visit insurance recommendations with me. .....
But here's the thing. I had another doctor speak poorly of her. The other doctor is someone I occassionally see and is a family/church friend. He said that this doctor can be irresponsible at times, by not filling out paperwork to update the PCP on referral patients' progress. When questioned to do so, he said this doctor only wrote short sentences and did not take the time to give a complete update as is common in the health field. ....I wonder about that.
I don't particularly like the doctor who gave a bad opinion of my specialist, but he is a church and family member and he does tend to give me better care....I sometimes wonder if it is simply because he knows me and my family, as opposed to a stranger. The thing I don't like about him is that he is very conservative and does not recommend medicine unless it is absolutely necessary.....That's another story, but the point was that I had a doctor speak poorly about another doctor. ......Is stuff like that to be taken seriously? It's always odd when someone does that, because the next time you see the doctor spoken poorly of, ....at least for me, I tend to have that negative criticism in my mind of them.
I wish there was some kind of national rating system for all doctors....kind of like teachers too.....I think doctors and teachers/professors serve such high functions in society, they should be required to have a formal and public evaluation process. It's disappointing to find out someone is not a good DOCTOR! after you've seen them. Though word can get around, sometimes it's hard to know when to trust rumors and word-of-mouth.
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RE: Evaluating a Doctor's Skill and Care - 9/12/2008 2:19:34 PM
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pumpkin
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hmm... I don't know that I would trust the opinion given of your specialist by your regular doctor/church member/family member... it sounds more like basically the same complaint that you had about her. Basically, that she didn't take as much time as he would like her to take on doing such and such.
It *is* hard to not think about a negative comment that you have heard about someone when you see them the next time. doctor or not.
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