It’s not always easy to find a good local doctor. Sure, you can find a competent one and probably be able to diagnose your illnesses or set that broken arm, but there’s a difference between “competent” and “good.” Unfortunately, there are no places in the phone book where physicians are listed in the order of qualities that are important to you. One person’s great physician is another’s “find someone else.”
To find a good local doctor before, you have to see one. In other words, find a physician who can serve as your go-to, home base health professional. Use this physician to get your regular checkups and to take care of other non-emergency type problems. If you can find an excellent regular physician, you’ve already won half the battle. He’ll be able to be your home base for referrals when it comes to finding a specialty physician.
Ask Around
The best place to turn for referrals is your friends and family members. People generally are friends with people who are similar to them. Therefore, it only makes sense that your friends and family will have similar essential characteristics they want to see in their local doctor. Even if they don’t, you can sit down and ask them some questions and get the information you want to know.
Referral Services
In many cities, medical referral services can connect you with a good local doctor. They are an excellent place to go if you don’t have any other referral source. These services can be somewhat less tedious than searching for a phone book. The best of them will take a list of your symptoms and your location, match those against their database, and come back with some physicians that best serve your needs.
Use The Web
The Internet gives you all the power you need to make an informed choice about your health care. Several websites specialize in patient reviews of physicians, so you can see who is recommending whom. Of course, you must take one or two studies with a grain of salt, but if a physician has a flood of terrible reviews, you probably want to steer clear. And, of course, if a local doctor has excellent reviews, you might want to hurry up and make an appointment.
You can also get a referral to a specialist online with an online doctors consultation where this can be done.
