There is no set method to choosing a physician. First and foremost, you must be comfortable with the person to whom you are trusting your face or other body part. The rest of the suggestions provided should be taken together as a whole to make your decision. No one suggestion is more important than another in determining a competent physician. Taken as a whole, they provide a good starting point to get the best results possible.
Board Certification
Internship, Residency, and Fellowship
Medical School Appointments
Peer Reviewed Literature Submissions
Ability to Admit to Hospitals
Ask another doctor
Board certification can be a very tricky criteria. There are many boards which certify physicians. These can require rigid criteria for inclusion and retesting or may simply require a yearly enrollment. In addition, just because a doctor is board certified does not mean that they are up to date on the current trends in medicine. The main board certification comes from one of the member boards of the ABMS. These boards require both written and oral testing as well as some form of competency evaluation for surgeons. Recredentialing is required every 10 years. Other boards which are not members can also provide top rate credentialing.
Even though a physician is board certified, he should still be trained in the procedure you are considering. Training can take the form of formal courses in medical schools or weekend refresher courses. Be ware of physicians who received training only in a weekend course as this can be dangerous for physicians who are learning procedures outside their normal scope of practice.
Teaching appointments at medical schools can be a good way to find doctors who are dedicated to staying abreast of the latest in technology and trends. Some faculty are full time members of the medical school teaching system while others donate their time from their private practice to teach young doctors without pay.
Articles and national podium speaking opportunities show that a doctor has information that other doctors are interested in hearing. This also shows that the doctor has a high enough patient volume to warrant studies and other lecture topics. These physicians tend to be on the cutting edge of medical science and dedicated to not only commercial but academic pursuits.
Ensuring that your physician can admit you to a local hospital in case of emergency can be life saving. Admission privileges are not required for medical licensing. Unfortunately every treatment runs risks and if your surgeon does not have admitting privileges at a local hospital, you may be forced to be under the care of another doctor if something happens a distance from your home.
Obtaining a second opinion is never a bad idea. If you do not feel comfortable with the doctor you choose, consider obtaining a second consultation. There are very few if any procedures which are performed by only one surgeon.
Choosing a physician is a difficult decision. These criteria are but a few that should be considered and serve only as a starting point for further evaluation.
D.J. Verret, MD is a facial plastic surgeon in Plano, Texas. Nothing here is to be construed as a substitute for evaluation by a physician. For a listing of national web sites with best doctors and best doctors list .