Internal Medicine: Finding The Right Doctor

Internal medicine is, in many ways, just another word to describe the field of study concerning adult health. You might even call it the opposite of pediatrics. In addition to treating illnesses and disease, a doctor of the specialty will often perform routine yearly exams on his adult patients, making sure they are in good health. At that time, he may choose to advise them as to some changes they could make in their lifestyle that would benefit their continued health. If you are interested in finding such a doctor, here are some tips on finding the right one.

When it comes to finding a doctor of internal medicine, your first area of interest should be their qualifications and credentials. The first step in discovering these credentials may simply be to ask the doctor himself. In almost all cases, they will be honest about their background. Obviously, you should see that they have graduated from a reputable school (it doesn’t need to be one of the top schools in the country) and that their license is up to date. You might also want to make sure they are board certified in their specialty, which carries a bit more weight and can give you a certain peace of mind.

Once you have the preliminary information, go ahead and do some behind the scenes research to make sure it is factual. This can include going to your state licensing board with a request for information. In many states, the information you need is all online so it shouldn’t be much of a hassle to find it. In other cases, you can simply put a call into the board and find out how to go about getting the information you want. In addition to verifying credentials, you can also find out if there has been any disciplinary action against the doctor and if they have been involved in any malpractice suits.

Finally, you might want to take advantage of the online review sites that have been popping up lately. Here, you can find ratings and reviews of not only doctors of internal medicine, but doctors of all stripes. These reviews are written by patients just like yourself so you should be able to get a decent picture of what the community is saying about the physician in question. Of course, a few bad reviews shouldn’t hold much sway, but if there is a landslide consensus one way or the other, it could help you make the right decision.