Tag: review

What do you look for in an obgyn?

This question actually has multiple answers and is a more complicated process than selecting a primary care physician. The usual selection criteria apply of course: 1) Is the doctor in your network? 2) Are they local and easy to get to? 3) Does their availability(office hours) fit your availability? 4) Do they have good reviews? 5) Do you know anyone personally in your family or friend group that already sees them so that you can get firsthand feedback?

These are good to go by when attempting to select any physician, bearing in mind that reviews on google can be written by anyone anywhere, even if they have never been in the office in question. Having family feedback is good as well, provided that you know the whole story surrounding their comments. ( i.e Grandma Martha hates Dr. X, but also has multiple no show appointments and owes the office a lot of money that they are rightfully trying to collect) You see what I mean? Even the seemingly best source of information does not compare to your own personal experience.

Having clarified all that, I feel that selecting an obgyn adds yet an additional level in selection complexity. Finding the right obgyn means finding someone with a communication style and listening skills that make you feel comfortable enough to discuss some of your most personal and potentially embarrassing issues. I mean, you can’t go discussing your vagina and hormones with just anybody. Hopefully you are able to find somebody that listens and “gets you” at the same time.

This is the kind of thing I strive for the most….the listening part I mean. It is so so important. Many of the women that I see are frustrated because they have spent years dealing with unresolved issues because they either did not feel comfortable mentioning them to their previous physicians or they were dismissed. This should never happen. Every single patient deserves to be listened to and, in my opinion, if they have an issue that you are not prepared to deal with, they should be referred onward to someone that can. The patient should never have to suffer due to your lack of comfort or familiarity with their particular problem.

I received a compliment once from a patient that I did not understand at first, but now I consider it one of the best compliments I have ever gotten. She said that coming to my office was like coming to a girlfriend’s house. At first I thought, what the heck does she do at her girlfriend’s house? My face must have registered my confusion for a minute because she went on to explain what she meant. She meant that I was able to make her so comfortable at my office that she was able to disclose and discuss anything and everything that she wanted to. That is my job, my sacred mission, and what it’s all about. Have a great night everybody!

Dr. Katz

ANY publicity is good publicity? I am not buying it.

bad publicity cartoon

I am forever hearing the adage, “Any publicity is good publicity” or “There is no such thing as bad publicity.” This has been grounded into my head as a business owner for as long as I can remember. My interpretation of this statement is that it means that any attention is better than no attention. It implies that even if something is deemed bad, wrong, incorrect or immoral, it only draws more attention to it as a sort of forbidden fruit, somehow making it even more desirable. I just don’t think that this is universally applicable.

It may work in the case of a movie star or a rock musician. We hear something potentially unfavorable about them and it intrigues us and makes us want to know more. This increased interest is basically risk free because these people are not likely to impact our lives in any significant way. They are just on a screen or a concert stage that we watch to escape real life for awhile. If they turn out to be a terrible person, so what? We can choose not to watch their movies or concerts or continue to do so with no real consequence either way. On top of that, they probably don’t really care one way or the other what we think. They don’t really need to.

The exact opposite is true for me in the medical field. If someone leaves a bad review for me on Google or Health Grades or worse yet, makes a terrible comment on one of my social media posts, I just can’t see that bringing me any sort of attention that I would actually want. I am fortunate in that this happens rarely, but when it does, I can’t stop thinking about it. I find myself researching who the individual might be and even attempt to reach out to see what I can do to remedy the situation or ease their pain, even if I realize that I have never actually seen the person. This happens all too often. After extensive research I realize that I have no record of this person and yet it still haunts me. These kind of hurtful reviews or comments do not achieve anything productive that I can think of. In fact, depending on the vulnerability of my current patient population, it can potentially affect their perception of me as well. There are people that truly take in whatever is in print as fact, without questioning it’s validity. The initial questions that are raised by these types of feedback can potentially cause ripples of unease that can spread through patients like wildfire. No good can come of that. No one wants to hear something bad about their doctor…ever. You have to have complete trust in someone who is so intimately involved in your life. You have everything to lose and nothing to gain by entrusting a potentially bad or dangerous physician. No one finds themselves seeking some infamous physician who botched a procedure just because they saw them on Dateline or something. It just doesn’t work that way. Have a great day everyone.

Dr. Katz