There’s a lot more to finding a doctor than simply looking one up online. These are people with whom you’re literally trusting your life. You need to find a doctor who shares the same thoughts as you, perhaps one who offers outpatient services to accommodate your busy schedule, but also understands the importance of routine check ups.
In order to find a doctor whom you can trust, you must ask certain questions before making them your primary care physician. Here are a few particularly important ones.
What Type of Doctor Are You?
There are tons of different types of doctors who can be identified as primary care physicians, and you need to find a doctor of the type that works for you, which will probably be a general practice doctor, family practice doctor, or doctor of internal medicine. General practice doctors can treat patients of any gender or age. Family practice doctors typically treat entire families, which is good for families who have troublesome medical histories. Doctors of internal medicine typically treat adults, and focus more on preventative medicine.
Can You Provide Me With Some Referrals?
If a doctor provides satisfactory service, he or she should have happy patients, with whom she or he should feel comfortable using as referrals. These patients will be able to tell you what it’s like to have the doctor in question as a physician, how they handle problems, what their personality is like, and more. This is a particularly important question, as it serves as a good barometer of the doctor’s service.
What Are Your Office Hours?
This question is more important than it seems. Sicknesses don’t necessarily take people’s schedules into account, and can happen at any time. For this reason, a good primary care physician should have flexible hours to take patients should a cold or other problem arise.
It’s easy to find a doctor, but finding one you can trust? Not quite as much. In order to find a doctor you’ll always feel comfortable with, you need to ask them the important questions first.
If you know of any other things to ask about when trying to find a doctor, feel free to share in the comments.