What Everyone Should Know About Picking A Doctor

In the last 20 years, we’ve slowly been tricked into some pretty ridiculous behavior when it comes to picking doctors.

For the folks with insurance: What is the first thing you do when you’re looking for a doctor? If you’re anything like me, you check to see who your plan covers and then you make the decision out of the pool of doctors that the plan covers.(This can get you into trouble)

For the folks without insurance: What’s the first thing you do when looking for a doctor? You’re probably a little better off than the insurance folks in choosing a doctor (because you choose based on word of mouth or experience), but then again, you have to pay for everything out of your pocket.

I rarely go to the doctor for anything other than a checkup (Even Doctors have doctors that they go to for checkups), but in case of something serious, I want to know that the guy that I’m paying knows what he’s doing.

After just playing it by ear for a few years I started coming up with a set of guidelines for what my “doctor’s practice” should look like. These guidelines make up the expectations that I have for a person who could have my life in his/her hands.

1) “Face Time”
I absolutely will never go see a doctor again if I don’t feel like I was given a fair portion of his time. The actual amount of time that you should consider “fair” is between 5-10 minutes of actual “in-room” time, where you feel like I have the doctor’s undivided attention. This may not seem like alot of time to some people, but a physician can only accomplish so much when they are “in-room” with you. The majority of the work that you should expect out of your doctor needs to go on when they aren’t in the room. This is the time that they actually use to go over test results and come up with a diagnosis. Even considering that, if you don’t get 5-10 minutes of quality “face time” with a doctor (emergencies excluded), then you may not be a priority in their practice.

2) “Backbone”
I have never understood why some people go to the doctor when they have already decided “what’s wrong with them” and “how it should be treated”. I could diagnose anything that would be wrong with me, but I know how silly it is to do that.You should go to a doctor because you need an expert, unbiased opinion. If you go to a doctor that is constantly agreeing with your assessment of your condition, then it’s time to get another doctor. A patient doesn’t pay a doctor to agree with them. A patient pays a doctor for the years of training that go into making an expert opinion about their condition/treatment. In short, you should look for a doctor who is going to be honest with you, even when you don’t like what they’re saying.

3) “Good Reputation” A good reputation is priceless. If people (that you trust) say good things about a doctor, you can be sure that they are saying them for a reason. These days, people are a whole lot more suspicious of the medical system in general (for good reason much of the time). It’s a good bet that if someone goes out of their way to say something good about a physician, that the physician did something right to earn their respect. After I talk to people I know about what doctors they use and why, I usually like to do an online search to learn more about the doctors on the net. My favorite “doctor locating and review” services are Vitals.com for M.D.’s and ChiroWeb for D.C.’s (Chiropractors). While online rating isn’t always the most accurate/trustworthy, it may give you some good ideas of what to ask when you call the office for an appointment or more information.

4) “Humble” (“If a Doctor talks down to you…Leave…If they disagree with you…Listen“) While I don’t think you should go to a doctor with a diagnosis/treatment locked into your brain, I do believe that it is a great idea to research your condition and get some ideas of what it could be. With that in mind, do you have a doctor that is “ok” with that? Do you have a doctor that is smart enough to diagnose a problem but humble enough to consider all the possibilities? A doctor shouldn’t feel like they’re smarter than a patient. They should understand that they have a different skill-set and that you are coming to them because they have experience and knowledge which exceeds yours in a certain area. With that in mind: It should never upset your doctor when you have been researching your condition! It should make them happy. Some great places to Research Symptoms and Associated conditions are WebMD, Mayo Clinic, and there’s even a great symptom checker at About.com. (Make sure that if you’re going to talk to your doctor about your research that you take printouts. Nothing is more frustrating for a doctor than a patient who did a great deal of research but can’t remember a key point. It stops the conversation cold.)

5) “Can YOU Believe in Them?” You can have the most gifted and intelligent doctor in the world, but if you don’t trust them, forget about them doing you much good. The key to a good doctor-patient relationship is trust. If there is trust, there is compliance. If you don’t trust what your doctor is telling you (even if they’re right) then your probably not going to comply with what they tell you. If you don’t comply with your doctors treatment plan, then why did you go in the first place? A good doctor will do his best to make sure that he does what is right for you. The decision always lies with the patient. If you don’t pick a “doc” you can trust, you may be sabotaging yourself.

A great example: Some folks have a tough time going to a doctor that is significantly younger than they are. Age is an awful thing to judge a doctor by, but it’s valid if it affects the way that you feel about them. If you have trouble trusting someone, even if its for a silly reason, it can affect the way you process their advice. What factors do you consider when picking a doctor? And Why? Dr. Ben

Tags: pick doctor what to look for