<p>Wow! That’s awesome. Years after my birth experiences, I had a series of diagnostic tests. Among other things, the doctors found that I have more of a “male” type pelvis with a tiny outlet. They told me I would probably have not been able to vaginally deliver even a 6 pound infant. </p>
<p>My VBAC attempt went 16 hours and my doctor tried very hard to help me do it. But all that time and effort never got me more than 3 centimeters dilated. I never understood my friends that all scheduled elective C-sections at 38 weeks-my doc would never have agreed to that. I was really disappointed to not get to experience a more “natural” birth. I got over it, though, as the most important thing is a healthy baby, but I did have a short process of grieving.</p>
<p>I would have had no problem working with a nurse midwife in a hospital setting. I even thought about going that direction after graduating from nursing school, but eventually got pulled into critical care instead. I have a lot of respect for the training nurse midwives must do to become certified and competent.</p>
<p>"I have a lot of respect for the training nurse midwives must do to become certified and competent. "
-All of the health care proffessionals have to be completely tortured and diminished to nothings before they get certified…med. students are the literally “bottom of the food chain” during rotations, do not sit down / eat / drink many days for 12+ hours while being completely looked down by everybody on a floor. They are not explained much, they have to guess and see if they are correct, all while learning and learning sometime being lightheaded for the lack of food/water/sleep, just going to bed for few hours, barely having time for a shower, day after day for many months, they are my heroes…and it is still easier in comparison to some residencies that lasts for 4+ years…you have to stay polite and treat everybody with respect while being totally humiliated, but it is a price for the rewarding career.</p>
<p>^why???
It never occured to me asking any of my physicians, I ask the patients for referral, not the physicians, I ask my frineds about their docs. I would have no idea about differences in Med. Schools. Who would aside from the MDs? I am familiar with my D’s school and because she said she likes it, it does not mean that it is good for everybody, I am sure, there are others who would not be so positive.</p>
<p>The problem is when you are hit with a situation where you need to pick a doctor and you are blind as to who’s good, who’s not, This happened when my brother was dxed with an abnormality on the pancreas, and serious surgery was on the table, not to mention his life. Just moved to a city a few months before. </p>
<p>He and his pregnant, European wife were in no frame of mind to figure out who to see. His insurance sent him to a the nearest associated hospitalt where maybe 2 such surgeries a year are done. So the research had to be done. I don’t so much look at where the physician graduated from ug or med school, as where he got his specialty training and also the hospital where the procedure is to be done. Young Bucko from Harvard and JHU who has done only a few of these isn’t going to make my list. I want experience and wisdome when ti comes to something like this.</p>
<p>I would never ever rely on the place of training, I would only rely on MDs reputation, which is not that hard to find on-line and if not, than he/she is not tah popular, which is negative all by itself…Also I would go to a certain place for help. I know that many “royalty” level international patients are coming to Cleveland Clininc, Mayo Clinic or other places that are know for specific require specialty. In a very serious situation I would probably consider this over any other approach.<br>
I would not consider investigating the UG, Med. School or place of training of the MD.</p>
<p>I always investigate. When a new insurance company wanted to place with me a new MD, I looked him up and found that he had gone to a Caribbean med school. I called them back and said “no”. And they gave me another referral.</p>
<p>" looked him up and found that he had gone to a Caribbean med school"
One of the cardiologist that I know has published several books, world reknown and goes to simposiums in Europe frequently. He has gone to a Caribbean med school also…means ab solutely nothing…I have never been to his office, I might like him and I might not, but I would consider him becuase I know his family very well and because he is local…</p>
<p>Just to add my experience here, as I’ve had some serious medical issues that I’ve had to face with our family in the last 15 years, I’ve NEVER taken the medical school into consideration, and in most cases did not even know where the doctors I’d selected had gone to medical school when I made the choices. I am considered by friends, family and even acquaintances as a “go to” person for when someone has a medical crisis in terms of finding the best care, best doctor, best procedures. When all is said and done, most all of the doctors I ended up having selected, with no idea most of the time where s/he went to med school, ug, I’ve ended up with a list of doctors from the top med schools and the top universities with no exceptions. </p>
<p>I did not even know this until my younger brother who does look at med schools and screens accordingly if the choice is there, went down the list of the doctors I’d hand picked. I truly could give a rat’s backside about where any doctor went to Medical school and even less about the UG, but that’s the way it’s turned out.</p>
<p>Or, ask a doctor you already like and respect for his/her view of other specialties. </p>
<p>I find it harder to find good service people for our house. Finally, I started asking our plumber (who is great!) and they’ve given me several excellent referrals.</p>
This is how I found our first pediatrician. I asked the maternity nurses at the hospital after my son was born. I was very happy with their recommendation!</p>
<p>nrdsb4- I’m sorry for your experience and glad that you had a grieving process that helped you. Good for you for trying for a VBAC!</p>
<p>I was very afraid of being railroaded into an unnecessary C section and switched doctors while I was pregnant for the first time, with twins. It was a good move. The new doc had experience with working on Indian reservations with the public health service and having little or no technology to help him birth multiples in varying situations. (There is a clinic on the Navaho rez that has the lowest C section rate in the country because they just don’t believe in it). Most OB’s today don’t have any real hands on experience with breech births and other complications. Surgery they know, so surgery it is. They downplay the risks (typically post op infections and fever in the newborns) and of course it’s more convenient for everyone to have things “scheduled” (babies and children are inconvenient, let’s not kid ourselves!). </p>
<p>I was lucky too, having a relatively fast labor and both twins head-down. Still, I had a homebirth with a midwife the second time around and it was much better. Long, painful labor but so very, very, much better. OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now.</p>
<p>Same for finding out who the lousy doctors are. I knew a guy who was a well-respected, fully-certified reconstructive plastic surgeon. Most people who knew him knew he was a great guy and assumed he must be a wonderful doctor too. But a few years later I met a couple of nurses who worked in the burn unit of the local hospital, and they said he was terrible, not nearly as skilled as the other docs who did skin grafts and burn reconstructive surgery. They said you could walk though the floor and pick out which ones were his patients by their noticeably worse appearance.</p>
<p>I disagree about your assertion that D.O. Schools are for those who did not have the grades to go to an M.D. School. It is simply false. ALL U.S. medical schools are highly competitive and selective. To judge a physician based on whether he or she is a D.O. or a M.D. is very short sighted.</p>
<p>My cardiologist is a D.O. He attended a med school I have never heart of. But he trained at the Cleveland Clinic where he was Chief Fellow in Cardiology. He is also triple board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Interventional Cardiology. This doctor spent 4 years in the Public Health Service in order to pay his way through med school and he has incredible rapport with his patients, not to mention excellent clinical skills and judgement. Many of his patients are nurses and other physicians. I’m so thankful to have him as my doctor and certainly glad I did not rule him out because he was a D.O.</p>
<p>As a physician, I know that there is little to worry about comparing undergrad or medical schools when I see a doctor. I do take note of where they did their residency. Med school boards (now called Step 1, etc) and specialty boards are great equalizers. After that, if you can find out if your doctor was elected to AOA (Alpha Omega Alpha, the med school honor society), that might make you feel better, but looking at residency training is the key. imo there’s a sweet spot where a physician is new enough out of training that he knows the cutting edge new developments but also has some experience under his/her belt to be able to form a good hypothesis without unnecessary testing or head-scratching quickly. </p>
<p>Another thing that is unfortunately hard to patients to see is how the physician keeps up with his specialty. Many states require continuing medical education for licensure but I know some docs who never do CMEs, or do not do them appropriately.</p>
<p>I saw an Alpha Omega Alpha certificate on one of my doctor’s walls and was impressed. But now that some med schools are pass/fail, how do they determine AOA?</p>
<p>In our school, the election to AOA was made by looking at a combination of grades/performance in the first two (basic science) years and at performance (evals by attending docs, residents, etc) during the second two (the clinical) years, plus board scores. So it’s already kind of (dare I say ) holistic, in a sense, and could be done in a pass/fail curriculum as long as the faculty input was good. Our school graded not with letter grades but with a pass/fail-ish system (outstanding, satisfactory, [something I can’t remember], unsatisfactory). The number of AOA students depends I think on the the size of the class, in ours, it was about 8-10% or so. There was an emphasis on clinical performance (which makes sense to me). Students who were super book-smart but tanked in the wards did not make AOA. Conversely, there were students who did great or even okay book-wise but shined in the hospital did make AOA, and no one argued at the choices; my guess is that by fourth year most people in med school classes know who are going to be stars. And it was nice in my school-- there was a good mix of future surgical types and primary care types.</p>
) holistic, in a sense, and could be done in a pass/fail curriculum as long as the faculty input was good. Our school graded not with letter grades but with a pass/fail-ish system (outstanding, satisfactory, [something I can’t remember], unsatisfactory). The number of AOA students depends I think on the the size of the class, in ours, it was about 8-10% or so. There was an emphasis on clinical performance (which makes sense to me). Students who were super book-smart but tanked in the wards did not make AOA. Conversely, there were students who did great or even okay book-wise but shined in the hospital did make AOA, and no one argued at the choices; my guess is that by fourth year most people in med school classes know who are going to be stars. And it was nice in my school-- there was a good mix of future surgical types and primary care types.</p>