Find The Right Doctor For You
(UPDATED Sept 2002)
Your best bet for accurate diagnosis and competent,comprehensive treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a Urogynecologist.
What is a urogynaecologist?
Go to: http://www.augs.org/public/articles/details.cfm?id=83 to learn more about this new specialty of Gynecology.
You can use the American Urogynecological Society on-line directory http://www.augs.org/directory/ to locate a doctor who is a member of AUGS.
The members listed are not necessarily fellowship trained Urogynecologists because AUGS membership is open to any professional who is interested in the field of Urogynecology and the directory simply lists all members.
If there is no doctor listed who is located near you, go to the Education page of the AUGS site and click on fellowship opportunities: http://augs.org/public/articles/index.cfm?cat=16
There may be a fellowship training program located near you (the list is international) and you can call to ask for an appointment with a Urogynecologist.
It can be tough to figure out how well trained your doctor may be in Urogynecology. The field has seen exponential growth as a specialty. As recently as 10 years ago, fellowships were uncommon, and those that were available had vastly differing training experiences, depending on the emphasis of the mentor. Programs could vary in length from a year to three years which may or may not include structured research training. Not all doctors who call themselves Urogynecologists have completed fellowship training. In fact, some of the very best Urogynecologists never did a fellowship, because there were no fellowships when they trained.
Nevertheless, there are some ways you can scrutinize your doctor.
- Ask if he/she is fellowship trained. Where and when? Who was the head of the program? Does he have any other special training?
- Is she currently practicing at a teaching facility?
- Have you seen his name associated with recently published articles about pelvic organ prolapses?
- Ask him/her to share him/her curriculum vitae.
- Does s/he belong to the Society of Gynecological Surgeons http://sgsonline.org/ (USA) or The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Australia & New Zealand) http://www.ranzcog.edu.au/ or the appropriate organisation in the country that you reside.
You can call, fax, write or email to obtain this information before you make an appointment. A good doctor should not be offended to share their credentials, however ensure that you are respectful in your approach. Explain that you are at the beginning of your search and in the process of interviewing doctors. Some doctors will schedule a consultation for just this purpose. This would give you a chance to query the doctor about their methods of treating POP, their surgical experiences, etc. much as you may have interviewed obstetricians before you settled on the one who was right for you.
A detailed list of possible questions to ask your doctor is on another page of this web site. Click here Questions For Doctors
A few caveats:
Most traditional healthcare providers are too busy to set up web sites. While web sites may be very informative, they are a marketing tool and you are the customer. Many of the doctor owned web sites promote a specific type of surgical technique. Read them with a critical eye.
A clinic or medical center is simply a collection of doctors. Do not assume employment at a well-known center guarantees competence. Do not judge the entire clinic on the basis of one or two doctors.
Choosing an experienced surgeon is not a popularity contest. Bedside manner should take second place to competence and experience.
Your doctor should not feel threatened when you ask for a second opinion. To get a true second opinion you will need to seek a doctor outside your current clinic and preferably outside the region. Doctors who work together are reluctant to disagree with the primary doctor.
Your doctor should use ‘partnership’ language. You want to hear phrases like “Here are your options,” “What’s your sense of what I just said?” and “Let’s talk about this”. You want a doctor who will engage you in a conversation, give you information, and guide you through making a decision. S/he will listen to your questions and answer them using terms you understand.
If you get a referral from someone else, whether it’s a doctor, friend or acquaintance, consider the qualifications of the person who is referring. How well do they know the doctor they are referring you to? What are they basing their opinion on?
All doctors have biases. Try to determine what they are and if they jive with yours. Any consultation with an expert involves interaction between your feelings, your values and those of the expert.
Your doctor should be able to tell you with accuracy what your medical situation is, what the available therapies are, if you need any, and what those therapies can and can’t do. Ask yourself if the intervention itself could cause health problems.
Doctors are not gods. At their best, they are highly trained professionals with a large but finite range of specialized knowledge. They don’t know it all. Too many doctors don’t give patients credit for understanding this. They think patients will stop trusting them if they don’t seem omniscient. The opposite is usually true. A doctor who makes it clear that they are giving their best advice on what they know now, won’t end up with alienated, disillusioned patients. This is terribly important in terms of pelvic surgery. More studies are being done, research continues, and new things are constantly being learned.
There are no easy, definitive answers; no clear-cut right or wrong.
If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.
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