Doing Your Homeworkt: Choosing a Surgeon
- State Medical Board websites allow you to check a surgeon's credentials.
- Experience, training, hospital affiliations, and insurance coverage all count.
- Find a surgeon you trust to answer questions and put your interests first.
When you learn you have cancer, choosing your doctor and treatment center will be one of the most important decisions you'll make. Generally speaking, the more a surgeon performs a surgery, the better prepared they’ll be to handle complications, should they arise. "I think technique and volume probably go hand-in-hand," says
Dr. Lori Weinberg, a gynecologic oncologist at
Minnesota Oncology in the Minneapolis area.
"The more surgeries you do, the better your technique becomes. It’s a learning process. But it also has a lot to do with how you’ve trained, where you’ve trained, what skills you’ve gained from those years of exposure to different cases," says Dr. Weinberg.
Read More As a patient, you can do some homework by compiling a list of potential surgeons, finding out who's covered by your insurance, and who has operating privileges at highly-regarded hospitals or cancer centers in your area. Ask for recommendations from your primary care physician or other health care providers you see regularly, and from people who've had a similar procedure. The
Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) can tell you if a surgeon is licensed in your
state. State medical boards also have doctor profiles that include board certifications, board actions, criminal convictions, and medical malpractice claims. To find out whether the surgeon is board certified or eligible in a particular specialty, check with the
American Board of Medical Specialties. "Board certified" means a physician has undergone lengthy training in a specialty and passed a stringent exam.
More important, says Dr. Weinberg, "is that you have confidence in your surgeon, that you have a good relationship with them."
“No matter how qualified your doctor is,” she notes, “you will not have a good experience if you aren't able to communicate your concerns, or your doctor doesn't have your trust. You should be comfortable asking questions without feeling rushed, knowing that you have their full attention.”
“What matters most,” says Weinberg, is finding the surgeon who will “take the best care of you."
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Dr. Lori Weinberg is a gynecologic oncologist with Minnesota Oncology. Read More
