Choosing Your Doctor

When we are forced to choose a new doctor, what do we need to look at to make a good selection for our quality of care? This is not an easy task, as stated by Dr. Robert Ashley, an internist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

If you’ve been with a doctor for quite a while your relationship has probably been a good one and you have formed a trust in him/her. This trust is very important in the treatment you receive. Your doctor has a vested interest in you as a person and takes a personal view of what is best for you and your treatment. You both share a mutual trust and sense of comfort with each other, so when you are forced to change this, it is a very scary task.

The source of the doctor’s medical degree or institution isn’t the only thing to consider when selecting a new doctor to care for your needs. His or her overall quality should be uppermost in your decision. You need someone you are comfortable in confiding in. You want your new doctor to keep track of when you need vaccinations, screenings, blood work, and if a woman, pap smears and mammograms.

Be very careful with websites. They are not always truthful due to dirty politics. Some websites provide ratings for a doctor’s care that will include poor reviews that could ultimately reflect their poor quality of care. Even the positive reviews don’t necessarily reflect uniformly good care. This makes it exceptionally difficult for a patient to find another doctor that they are completely confident in and comfortable with. Perhaps the first place to seek information from is your current doctor. He or she may have very good references for you based on your individual needs.

Ask friends who they recommend for a doctor that they feel is able to diagnose and treat illnesses. Learning of the doctor’s personality is an important aspect as the patient-doctor relationship is very essential.

Finding a doctor to both communicate and to treat through a personal recommendation, can be a powerful endorsement of his or her quality of care. Take a little time to find out as much as possible about the prospective doctor you are considering. Do not be afraid to ask questions of the doctor to see how he responds to your needs. This will also lay to rest your worries about personality ease between you.

Dr Fredda Branyon