Will you go to panic attack even if that Carribean graduate was top specialist in his area with many excellent reviews and 15 years of experience?
My mom had back surgery in a hospital that I have never heard about in Baltimore. Not at JHU. She had very difficult case. It was an amazing success. My dad spent a month digging different reviews before they chose a doctor for surgery.
I have heard of cases of medical tourism by those whose condition was rare in the US, but less rare in some other country, so physicians in the other country were more familiar with it.
Regarding the thread title question, in the past >5 years, Iâve only gone to the doctor for one issue beyond annual physicals, and that one issue relates to how I chose my PCP.
I wanted to see a dermatologist, so I looked up dermatolgists in my area. I found the ones in my town were almost entirely within one particular provider network, and I was on a different one. On the next open enrollment, I looked for a nearby PCP within the provider network I needed. Unfortunately the PCPs with the better reviews did not have availability for new patients. Instead I went with the guy who was available. I doubt that it was a coincidence that the one doctor who was available for new patients had the worst reviews overall. He did his undergrad at Purdue, MD at Case Western, and MBA at Berkeley. The prestige of the school names had zero influence on my decision, but I found the fact that he had an MBA and was a former tech CEO interesting. I have not been impressed with him as a PCP, and can see why he received lower reviews than others. I do my annual phsyicals with whoever has an available appointment when I want to come in, which is usually a nurse practioner, so I have little interaction with my PCP.
In general my initial PCP selection usually prioritizes covered by insurance, located nearby, is readily available without long delay for appointment, and has adequate reviews⊠roughly in that order or priority. After have some interactions with the PCP and the office, I may choose to switch to another (often someone else in same office) based on things like how well they resolve my issues, how well they listen to me and are open to my input/requests, how long I spend in waiting room, available of medical/test records, etc.
This method only has had one major failure. My PCP retired and assigned his patients to someone else in the office. The new doctor I was assigned to had the worst reviews I have ever seen for an area PCP. Nevertheless I gave her a try. She did not listen to me to the point of cutting me off my speech, then misquoted me with an incorrect statement about my family history and was not open to correction about my family history. She tried to request expensive and non-standard bloodwork that I (and I expect she) knew wouldnât be covered by insurance, in spite of having no known medical issues at that time. She prescribed me a medication for what I later found to be a nonexistant condition due to misentrepeting the blood work that did occur. I convinced my insurance to allow me to switch before open enrollment. The fact that she attended a prestigious college had no influence on this decision. Quite a few other patients apparently left her practice, with similar comments in reviews. According to her LinkedIn, she left the office as well a short time later, ending her 2-3 year career as a PCP, instead assisting her husband with a gym/fitness position.
I do check education history, because that gives me an idea about how well they were trained. Then I look at reviews. I definitely look at where my dentist received his training, because teeth stress me out. I like a dentist that has trained at a highly ranked program. Since Iâm in the medical field, I can tell if a doctor isnât giving me good information or if I know more about an issue than they do. But teeth are just a mystery. I just pray everything comes out ok.
DH emailed oncologists and cancer researchers all over the world. His cancer is a rare cancer everywhere.
I choose based on reviews and recommendations. I have no idea where any of my doctors went to school but they are all excellent.
I always peek at the education and training, but they are not 100% decision makers for me. That said, I try to avoid older docs with Eastern European medical training because I ran into a couple of really bizarre situations where the advice I got was right of the bat wrong.
However, when I needed to deal with a GYN issue, I picked the doc who got his undergrad in organic chemistry from a local college known for training smart chemists 
. And when his nurse told me that Dr. H was a âdoctorâs doctor â meaning the doctors and staff would pick him to do their surgery, I was sold, and it was a good decision.
I have always gone by recommendations. When my kids were young we had many friends who were local physicians who were a great resource. They were helpful getting me into see someone when I needed to be seen right away. Most of them have now retired and I miss that resource.
When I needed knee surgery I got three recommendations from my orthopedist(he didnât do knee replacements). I ran those three names by my physiotherapist and asked around to see who others had used. I went with the surgeon who my PT said he would recommend to his own mom.
In my small city it seems that many of the primary doctors are graduates of less well known medical schools. What does seem fairly consistent is they did their residency in this region. The specialists that I looked up all are from more prestigious schools and residency.
One of my kids has Kaiser and has little choice in who she sees.
yes, and yes
For basic care, I just go with recommendations. I look at the degrees posted on the brag wall just out of curiosity.
But if it is something serious involving especially surgery, I think I would choose base on reputation of hospital. So for some more serious stuff for my parents, we/they choose UPenn or JHU vs the local medical center.
Really interesting question. From my perspective if I am looking for a specialist I do look at their medical school training. I also look at if they did research etc.
But when patients were looking for me almost none cared or looked where I did my training. Itâs a really interesting question.
I agree with this. But folks who need someone with a great bedside manner, trim and well groomed may not be happy with this approach. In my experience, âdoctorâs doctorsâ are highly skilled, are great diagnosticians and teachers of younger docs, etc. but may not meet the âmust look the partâ criterion some here have commented on. The best âdoctorâs docâ in my area is gruff with patients, impatient with âI did my researchâ comments, insists that his decades of medical experience is more relevant than someoneâs 20 minute google search, and isnât always so patient with family members. But uniformly admired by colleagues.
And grooming? Ummm⊠heâs clean and hygienic, wouldnât win any prizes for hair and wardrobe!
I go on recommendations first, but then do look at schools and experience if I donât get a solid recommendation.
I need a root canal soon and the endodontist that I saw last time was booked a month out. I read the bios of the other endodontists in the practice and one had 25 years of experience and is an adjunct professor and teaches at the local (highly rated) dental school one day a week and the other endodontist who could see me sooner has only been doing endodontics for a few years. Guess which one I went with?
How does one find a doctorâs doctor?
These days, finding a PRIMARY care doc can be quite daunting. My Hâs primary care doc vanished in April with no notice (though H had seen her in April and she hadnât said anything). I then frantically tried to find him another primary care MD, as he was in the midst of a lot of different treatmentsâcataract surgeries, removal of a cyst and prostate cancer treatments. I called all over to find him a new primary care MD and finally, my internist (who has no more room for patients since she absorbed patients when her former colleagues left the practice) took pity on me and had her staff call me and give me the name of their new internist and let us make an appointment with her. She was a DO, but she was available (the other people either werenât accepting new patients or were booking over a year out from the date of the call). Sadly, she only was here for a few months and then is moving back to OR (where she came from) because our cost of living in HI is too high and reimbursements are too low.
Fortunately, we were offered another internist, this time an MD who graduated from local med school in 2022 (so very young). D and H made appointments with her and were glad to be able to be accepted and not have to have me search around to try to find them new doctors. D met her in a 1st appointment the other day and really liked her but was surprised at how young she appeared (and is per the internet). D was very impressed that she read all of Dâs extensive medical file and seemed to understand her major health issues and will defer to Dâs current specialists. H will have an appointment with her later.
Happily, the new internist is in the same MyChart/EPIC system so all the healthcare providers can share notes & test results together. Hopefully this will result in fewer duplicate tests and less confusion. I really donât know much more about this new internist than what I posted and that D seemed to like her so far.
DOâs are physicians the same as MDâs. With the same amount of time in medical school, residency and fellowship.
Iâm sorry to be sensitive to this but our country needs more physicians no matter which type of school and degree that they have.
I think I need to step away from this discussion
I have found this to be helpful
??? Kaiser offices are usually large enough to have a selection of primary care physicians open to new patients. (Similar for other larger practices.)
We actually found the DO to be more wholistic than the MDs and found that helpful & refreshing.
Regarding wardrobe, seems that just about every health care provider wears scrubs these days (unless additional PPE is needed). So not a lot of difference in that area, for anyone choosing a provider by wardrobe.