Posted: 1/20/2010 5:08:38 PM EDT
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Put in your state and it will bring up doctors in your area and around your state. Once you get the list of docs up there is ratings column over to the right
Click on the number and it will pull up the review for that doc. Smiley face or frown face on the left of column indicates the average of patients satisfaction with doc. Of course the  faces are the most fun to read. 
http://www.ratemds.com/social/?q=node/8521 |
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My friends who are MD's hate that site.
Their point is what when they (for example) CORRECTLY tell patients that they do not need antibiotics for the fucking flu or cold, the patients get all pissy and give them low ratings. Satisfaction surveys encourages doctors to do uncessary tests and let patients have their way, even if it's a bad idea. |
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My friends who are MD's hate that site. Their point is what when they (for example) CORRECTLY tell patients that they do not need antibiotics for the fucking flu or cold, the patients get all pissy and give them low ratings. Satisfaction surveys encourages doctors to do uncessary tests and let patients have their way, even if it's a bad idea. The thin burgendy line? 
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Quoted:
My friends who are MD's hate that site. Their point is what when they (for example) CORRECTLY tell patients that they do not need antibiotics for the fucking flu or cold, the patients get all pissy and give them low ratings. Satisfaction surveys encourages doctors to do uncessary tests and let patients have their way, even if it's a bad idea. B-b-b-b-but... the customer is always right! (not really... but that's what the business types who are running medicine right now believe...) |
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Looking through it, haven't recognized any Docs I have used, but there are zillions. One thing the site should know: chiropractors are NOT MD's. My family doc happened to be on there. Only had 1 neg review and that was from someone that was unhappy about being cut off of pain pills after 5 years. 
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Quoted:
My friends who are MD's hate that site. Their point is what when they (for example) CORRECTLY tell patients that they do not need antibiotics for the fucking flu or cold, the patients get all pissy and give them low ratings. Satisfaction surveys encourages doctors to do uncessary tests and let patients have their way, even if it's a bad idea. This would be my concern as well. Do you give the pill-shopper their prescription or do you accept that they will trash you on that site? |
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Any competent physician can -and does- communicate to the patient why they got the treatment they did and why they are not getting the treatment they asked for/expected. Beyond that, patients who cannot be made to understand are the rare exception and everyone suffers equally from bad reviews from the unreachable. "I'm the doctor, that's why." is no longer good enough for the average patient. |
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I'm not on there. Apparently the drugs I give people to make them forget surgery also make them forget me.
My PCP is on there; I know and trust him, despite a bogus complaint on there. My wife's OB is on there; my wife likes her, despite another non-complaint. Take consumer ratings of MDs with a grain of salt. There are a couple surgeons around here that I wouldn't let get near my family even in an emergency. To hear their patients and office employees talk, though, you'd think they are Hippocrates incarnate. |
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Any competent physician can -and does- communicate to the patient why they got the treatment they did and why they are not getting the treatment they asked for/expected. Beyond that, patients who cannot be made to understand are the rare exception and everyone suffers equally from bad reviews from the unreachable. "I'm the doctor, that's why." is no longer good enough for the average patient. My dad used to tell people with this attitude to go find another surgeon. |
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A quick reading of the complaints reveals an interesting trend: Complaints come from 2 general sources: Drug seekers and .gov "insured" Go figure. "Entitled" would be a very gentle adjective for the kind of attitude some folks in those categories display. "Enraged" would be my emotion when a hospital operator gave a drug seeker my UNPUBLISHED HOME NUMBER, after their regular daytime doc refused to give them more pain pills. |
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A quick reading of the complaints reveals an interesting trend: Complaints come from 2 general sources: Drug seekers and .gov "insured" Go figure. "Entitled" would be a very gentle adjective for the kind of attitude some folks in those categories display. "Enraged" would be my emotion when a hospital operator gave a drug seeker my UNPUBLISHED HOME NUMBER, after their regular daytime doc refused to give them more pain pills. I'd have her job for breakfast for a stunt like that. |
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"Entitled" would be a very gentle adjective for the kind of attitude some folks in those categories display. "Enraged" would be my emotion when a hospital operator gave a drug seeker my UNPUBLISHED HOME NUMBER, after their regular daytime doc refused to give them more pain pills. I'd have her job for breakfast for a stunt like that. I was a resident at the time, so had to be a little circumspect & had to address it to my superiors. Regardless, "words were said." Wifey says I was a little brusque during that 3am phone call. 
Nowadays, I could unleash the hounds for that kind of privacy breach. |
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My friends who are MD's hate that site. Their point is what when they (for example) CORRECTLY tell patients that they do not need antibiotics for the fucking flu or cold, the patients get all pissy and give them low ratings. Satisfaction surveys encourages doctors to do uncessary tests and let patients have their way, even if it's a bad idea. This would be my concern as well. Do you give the pill-shopper their prescription or do you accept that they will trash you on that site? True, but there some good in there too. People are smart enough to discern amongst the comments.I just found a new doctor that I'll try out from looking at that site. I'm looking for a few specific things in my new PCP: 1. Male 2. youngish 3. Sees the patients himself instead of the PA 4. Accepts my insurance 5. Doesn't seem too rushed Found a guy on there that seems perfect. Not far from my office, he's 43 yrs old which is a good blend of youth and experience (graduated med school in 96). No mention of a PA. Several people said they appreciated his researching their situation. Several comments praising the staff. Sounds to me like a guy that takes continuing education seriously, his client base isn't too big, and his likelihood of being current on his information his high. Hobbies are reading and golf. I'm in. Oh yeah, forgot one other thing I was looking for: 6. A last name similar to mine. I dropped out of medical school about 8 years ago and the number of my classmates that spoke very poor english was astounding. I don't want that in my PCP. |
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"Entitled" would be a very gentle adjective for the kind of attitude some folks in those categories display. "Enraged" would be my emotion when a hospital operator gave a drug seeker my UNPUBLISHED HOME NUMBER, after their regular daytime doc refused to give them more pain pills. I'd have her job for breakfast for a stunt like that. I was a resident at the time, so had to be a little circumspect & had to address it to my superiors. Regardless, "words were said." Wifey says I was a little brusque during that 3am phone call.
Nowadays, I could unleash the hounds for that kind of privacy breach. Just for sport, the friggin' nurses sicced a crazy psych patient on me when I was an intern. She was a known frequent flyer, and apparently they did this to every intern... gave her my pager number, and she paged me, and paged me, and paged me. She was mentally challenged, and under a constant delusion that she was pregnant (pseucocyesis). She'd claim symptoms (like breast tenderness, lack of a period, etc) over the phone, and ask if she could be pregnant. 
The first time she called me, I had no idea what was going on... she was going on-and-on about how her "breasteses" hurt (exact quote), and he she had no period for a few months, and how she was feeling motion in her belly... (this was 2AM). And she said "I have one question.... could I be pregnant????" My incredulous response: "Uhhh yeah... how long have you been a woman??" I was down in the ER later, and mentioned this crazy woman who kept paging me... only to see all the ER nurses literally die laughing. 
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Quoted:
My friends who are MD's hate that site. Their point is what when they (for example) CORRECTLY tell patients that they do not need antibiotics for the fucking flu or cold, the patients get all pissy and give them low ratings. Satisfaction surveys encourages doctors to do uncessary tests and let patients have their way, even if it's a bad idea. On the other hand, I had an asshole mock me when I had bronchitis. Flat out made fun of me, then told me I didn't have it when I had a fever, was coughing up clots of green shit, etc. I have asthma and know my body. Then when I asked him if prednisone can mess with your ability to sleep, he said, "All kinds of medicines can make you feel all kinds of ways." Overall, I have never been treated so rudely in a health care setting in my entire life. I had to leave before I blew a gasket. |
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Just sampling a few people I happen to know well. One person I know to be outstanding (personally and professionally) got a low rating because of some nebulous complaint of "shoddy work". One idiot responsible for incompetent care and at least one ultra-serious injury –– basically someone I wouldn't trust to take care of my dog got three positive ratings because he dispensed meds and "really cares".
It is the same kind of simpleton attitudes that drive the whole "pay for performance" scam. |
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Quoted: Any competent physician can -and does- communicate to the patient why they got the treatment they did and why they are not getting the treatment they asked for/expected. Beyond that, patients who cannot be made to understand are the rare exception and everyone suffers equally from bad reviews from the unreachable. "I'm the doctor, that's why." is no longer good enough for the average patient. not trying to be a dick, but what is your background in dealing with patients? I have relatively limited (compared to an MD who's been in practice for several years) patient experience and I've come across plenty of patients who don't want to hear anything different from their self-diagnosis. Granted, my patient population is primarily low income and inner city, so it's liable to be skewed. I don't agree that everyone suffers equally from the worst of these patients. The quacks who prescribe amoxicillin or Z-pak for a cold, the flu, or a tooth ache get rave reviews from these people, while the responsible doctors who try to explain to the patient why antibiotics won't help with these problems and ultimately refuses to give them get crappy reviews. A reasonable person can get some use out of these sites by taking a lot of the information with a big grain of salt, but there are still a lot of people who take the reviews at face value. That, and bedside manner affects patient satisfaction much more than quality of care does. I know some very good oral and maxillofacial surgeons. Not all of them have a great bedside manner, but they're still some of the first people I'd want reconstructing my face after a trauma. eta: I've heard plenty of people talk about dentists that I know to be unethical douchebags as if they turn water to wine. |
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Any competent physician can -and does- communicate to the patient why they got the treatment they did and why they are not getting the treatment they asked for/expected. Beyond that, patients who cannot be made to understand are the rare exception and everyone suffers equally from bad reviews from the unreachable. "I'm the doctor, that's why." is no longer good enough for the average patient. not trying to be a dick, but what is your background in dealing with patients? I have relatively limited (compared to an MD who's been in practice for several years) patient experience and I've come across plenty of patients who don't want to hear anything different from their self-diagnosis. Granted, my patient population is primarily low income and inner city, so it's liable to be skewed. I don't agree that everyone suffers equally from the worst of these patients. The quacks who prescribe amoxicillin or Z-pak for a cold, the flu, or a tooth ache get rave reviews from these people, while the responsible doctors who try to explain to the patient why antibiotics won't help with these problems and ultimately refuses to give them get crappy reviews. A reasonable person can get some use out of these sites by taking a lot of the information with a big grain of salt, but there are still a lot of people who take the reviews at face value. That, and bedside manner affects patient satisfaction much more than quality of care does. I know some very good oral and maxillofacial surgeons. Not all of them have a great bedside manner, but they're still some of the first people I'd want reconstructing my face after a trauma. eta: I've heard plenty of people talk about dentists that I know to be unethical douchebags as if they turn water to wine. We see a large number of those in the ER... often angry because we're reluctant to refill their pain medication. It's not just low-income and Medicaid people either... I had a well-known business professional in my community give me a ration of it for refusing to prescribe antibiotics for what was clearly a simple cold. I could not convince her... and she let me know that she was really torqued off. Unfortunately, the time pressures we're under in the ER frequently prevent me from spending 15 or 20 minutes explaining it to every one of these folks. If I do spend 15-20 minutes in one room... I sometimes come out and find that in the meantime, two traumas and an acute MI have rolled in the door. I know one provider in the community whose basic approach to patient care is to ask the patient "what would you like me to prescribe for you?"... and then he does it. It's terrible medicine, but as far as I know, he's never been sued in 20 years, because his patients love him. |
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not trying to be a dick, but what is your background in dealing with patients? I have relatively limited (compared to an MD who's been in practice for several years) patient experience and I've come across plenty of patients who don't want to hear anything different from their self-diagnosis. Granted, my patient population is primarily low income and inner city, so it's liable to be skewed. I don't agree that everyone suffers equally from the worst of these patients. The quacks who prescribe amoxicillin or Z-pak for a cold, the flu, or a tooth ache get rave reviews from these people, while the responsible doctors who try to explain to the patient why antibiotics won't help with these problems and ultimately refuses to give them get crappy reviews. A reasonable person can get some use out of these sites by taking a lot of the information with a big grain of salt, but there are still a lot of people who take the reviews at face value. That, and bedside manner affects patient satisfaction much more than quality of care does. I know some very good oral and maxillofacial surgeons. Not all of them have a great bedside manner, but they're still some of the first people I'd want reconstructing my face after a trauma. eta: I've heard plenty of people talk about dentists that I know to be unethical douchebags as if they turn water to wine. [/quote] I may have over-stated it a bit, fair enough, still the responsibility for communication lies with the doctor/staff. I'm a chiropractor a few years in practice after a year of interning in a hospital, small town clinic, and a VA facility -in each of which there were plenty of patients with rather interesting views of healthcare and the world. I see lots of people who seem to know exactly what's wrong with them, who "don't need": an exam, neuro and ortho tests, to change ADL's, etc., and 'just need XXX'. Surprisingly enough, chiros get drug-seekers too (the even less smart ones). My job is to tell some patients their issue requires more invasive care (despite their hopes) and most of the rest that their treatment plan doesn't stop at "just [adjust, crack, move] it", ie nutrition, exercise, stretching, posture, and avoidance of aggravating/exacerbating activities. You think patients are resistant to hearing that antibiotics aren't the answer, try telling someone their back pain won't improve more than 50% until they lose 20 to 100+lbs! Especially in light of the fact that practically next-door are MDs and DOs who will, more likely than not, treat their condition as if it were entirely caused by an acute deficiency in Vicodin and Flexeril. I've just never had any use for "I'm the doctor, shut up" and am glad to see it fading a bit under the pressure of increased communication and choice. There are quacks and a-holes in all specialties and in the general population, unfortunately. My preference is to consider an educated and informed patient to be a 'good thing' -they'll drive the bad practitioners out of my specialty and I hope the rest of healthcare as well. It's not always fun but hopefully it will continue to seem worthwhile to help patients be better informed and involved -above the level of whatever common misconception, better yet above the level where some quack can tell them "'Cause I said so". Sorry if I don't get back online too quickly, just busy. Take care. |
