Honesty key in finding right doctor
For Logan residents, choosing a doctor can be similar to going to the candy store and picking out one piece of candy. A wide variety is available.
Once a person decides what type of doctor to see, the next step is to find a doctor accepted by his or her insurance who has the qualities the searcher is looking for in a health care provider.
A doctor who honestly wants to get to know his patient, a doctor who knows what he is talking about and a doctor who will explain what’s happening and will discuss treatments and not act like the patient is totally incompetent when it comes to medical knowledge is what Allie Plaizier, a senior at Utah State University, looks for in a doctor.
“When choosing a doctor, I would check out the waiting room and bathroom and see how clean those are,” Plaizier said. “If they care enough to keep those two places clean, they will care enough to keep other things clean. I would also get references from somebody else. I wouldn’t go to a doctor who someone else hadn’t recommended to me.”
Danny Clifford, a sophomore at USU, recently broke his arm while in-line skating. He first went to the emergency room at the Logan Regional Hospital. They took X-rays and thought it was a sprain, because the location of the break was not visible. The doctor gave him a sling and sent him home thinking it was only a sprain. Early the next morning he was called and told that he needed to come back to the emergency room because he had a fracture.
“That right there makes me lose confidence – confidence that I automatically gave them for being health professionals,” Clifford said.
Patient satisfaction often reflects the personal side of care. How willing are the doctors and nurses to listen? Do they answer questions and explain treatments? How much time does the doctor spend with the patient? Other patients’ experiences with a provider can help.
A doctor should be willing to listen, answer and explain questions and treatments.
“My doctor put me on a lot of medication that I didn’t need. After two or three years of seeing him, he said that I needed to go see a specialist,” said Brett Goodrich, a sophomore at USU. “He tried to figure it out instead of sending me right to the source where you’re supposed to go.”
“I have a doctor up here so I don’t have to drive down to Payson to see my doctor,” said Dallin Rushton, a freshman who has two doctors, one in Logan and one in Payson. “My mother found it for me. She looked through a list of doctors covered by our insurance and then checked some facts out about the doctor.”