Doctors are very important people in every society mainly because they handle our health issues. There are certain constant factors in all communities, one of them being disease and illnesses. As long as people continue to die and others get to be born, the doctor’s services will always be a necessity. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that one’s doctor offers high quality services which provide adequate customer satisfaction. Consultations with the doctor need to be assessed in order to determine whether one is receiving excellent health care or sub-standard services. Good health is an asset and must be maintained. A simple way of doing so is by determining the quality of care one receives from their doctor.
Understanding how to rate your doctor is very beneficial. It will help to draw conclusions of whether one is satisfied with the healthcare quality. It may also show if there is need to find better services for more comprehensive management. There are certain factors that are used as yardsticks to rate one’s doctor. These factors are fundamental for establishing rational and true rating. They can be divided into two main categories. The first category includes factors that describe doctor-patient communication. The second category tells of doctor’s management skills in making diagnoses, preparing treatment plans and patient follow-up.
Consultations made by a patient from a doctor need to be patient-oriented.
- The first factor to consider therefore is whether the doctor is concerned with the patient or is more concerned about himself. The moment a doctor tends to discuss himself instead of focusing on the patient, his service quality falls. Ideally, much more must be said about the patient’s history than what accomplishments the doctor has made. A good doctor is well informed about their patient while a low quality doctor knows scanty info about their patient.
- The second factor is about time the doctor spends in consultation with the client. High quality health care requires investment of adequate time to every patient. No patient should be rushed through consultation and if that is the norm, then probably the doctor has a poor rating.
- Thirdly, ability to offer good listening is a mark of a high quality doctor. They should be able to pause whatever they were doing and pay attention to the patient’s verbal and non-verbal communication.
- Answering patients’ questions professionally defines a good doctor. One who gets defensive or upset at challenging or antagonistic question is indeed a low quality doctor.
The second category of factors describes patient management skills of the doctor as follows:
- Exhaustive investigations-A doctor must be able to order enough tests for the patient so that the right diagnosis can be made. One who orders minimal tests because it involves less paperwork is doing a disservice to their client.
- Proper diagnosis-There is a very small likelihood that the doctor will make an appropriate diagnosis before fully evaluating the patient. A doctor with a low rating is one who decides on the treatment plan before taking a complete history and carrying a necessary physical examination. These are important as they influence the treatment plan.
- Personalized care-whenever a patient has appointments with the doctor but is being seen by a nurse or another assistant, it shows some degree of laxity on the doctor’s part. It is okay if it happens once in a while but not every other time.
In the ideal world, all doctors are excellent. However a number of discrepancies in service delivery may occur making some doctors appear as low quality yet if they improve on the above named factors, their quality would be restored. Most importantly though is that quality of health care should not be compromised and doctor’s who do so should be made aware it is not right.