Work that ‘search’ feature on your computer

Anonymous
July 28, 2008 at 9:58 pm

and HARD!
First off, finding out where the good ‘research and teaching’ docs are? Web up ‘US News Top Hospitals’….they just came out with this years listings of top hospitals…go to the neurology specialties listing and once you find a hospital in your area-click it on. You will then get the hospital’s web site. These are often harder to navigate, but they often give short to extensive bios on their various docs.
You can cross reference with which docs are covered in your insurance plan as preferred providers[saves $?].
Also do you have some city/regional magazine that does features on ‘top docs’ now and then? In my area they do this about once every 3 years or so and many of my docs are either on the ‘lists’ or in the key practices. I’d found all my docs by referral from my other docs at the time I needed a ‘new’ specialist… and doctor referral [better yet, more than one] can go far in maybe getting your docs to work together. Tho, I try to get mine to do so, it’s like herding cats.
When I last needed to choose a specialist [3 actually] for a different and more complex issue than CIDP, I called each of my current doctors and asked for ‘names’, then literally ‘webbed the dickens’ out of them! Sometimes, you can get a fuller picture of a doctor by the papers they’ve written or helped research, and thus the philosophies by which they approach the medical issue. Then going deeper, you can find out what charities or places/public service causes they work for and that too can give you a much broader picture of them professionally if not personally. PS don’t be disappointed if you don’t find too many papers? Sometimes a less stellar specialist may be the ‘one’ for you.
That all in the end is just going to be up to you to trust your own instincts to find a ‘match’. What on all that paper seems ideal may not be one once personalities meet. It’s sometimes a toss of the dice in finding a match, sometimes you CAN just get lucky. I got lucky on both my second and third tries! And I am soo glad I persisted, I got the right diagnosis and have the treatment I need. Nothing is more important than that. Hang in there.