re: How do you select a primary care physician?

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Pretty dumb question for a 33

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Not at all

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Is there any real way to evaluate the doctors before selecting one?

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Referrals from friends, family, or other physicians that you trust and have a relationship with. I think that's the best way. Healthgrades and online reviews for docs are very unreliable, IMO.

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but how do I pick one?

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Location, hospital affiliations (privileges somewhere close to your house?), sex, age, type of degree, ethnicity if that is important to you. Level of technology used or required in the practice. Are you ok with a practice that requires the use of a patient portal?

Most of the other important variables have to be considered after the first appointment. How did the office run? How was the doctors manner? Was he/she rushed? Did they spend much time with you? Would you be comfortable having your old man physical done there?

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How do you select a primary care physician?

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33 year old man

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Some advice from a guy who has spent a lifetime dealing with doctors.....

#1 Best if your primary is an Internist
They can always refer you to a specific doctor - as in your sleep needs - but they are overall the best circle to build your heath needs around. Lots of Internists out there but if you can not find one then a GP is probably your next best bet.

#2 Best if your primary is like you. Ie if you are a man, go to a man. If English is not your primary language, get a doc who can communicate in words you can easily understand. The doctor works for you so make sure you can feel they actually work for you.

#3 The old adage is...
Old internist, young surgeon and not the other way around. If you are 33 (welcome to middle age BTW) you should probably look for a doctor at least 35 to 40 with a decade past residency. Younger docs want to scrip and send you on your way while docs with some experience will be more likely to arrive at a better solution with better results. The exception to this is a "scrip" doctor who writes because he is rewarded by Big Pharma to sell drugs. Avoid these doctors!

#4 My preference is a conservative doc who may try established (and often far less expensive) treatments. Case in point was a friend who was prescribed a drug for diabetics that cost around 400 per month. Another doc prescribed similar drug that only cost 4 dollars per month (as it was past patent and hence MUCH cheaper). Where this really matter is pain management and while some treatments are cheaper but take longer, they do not come with the side effects of drug addiction. Pain is mother natures way of saying you need to take time to heal properly. On a side note, the older you get the longer it takes to heal.

#5 My other preference is a doctor with good bedside manner and is looking at you as a whole patient and not just giving your 15 mins (and making you wait 2 hours just to see them) and addressing some things not directly resulting from your visit. I have been blessed with and old internist for most of my life who still made house calls. Around my 40's he died and I was able to find a Scottish educated MD to take his place that was similar less the house calls. These guys are not always easily found on the internet but usually can be found by asking other doctors who their personal internist is.

#6 Quality of experience is important but I will not always use the best if they have such an ego or berate their staff that they think they are God. Usually these guys will slow to refer and they will make mistakes because they are not humble enough to think they can.


Hope this helps, on a side note, when it comes to personal healthcare
30 and under, not the best for finding solutions. I get tired of hearing "I don't know"
30 to 50 can go either way
50 and older usually have the correct answers built on long term experience but will retire / die long before your needs window. Not sure what we will do when the 50+ nurses start retiring because they are hard workers and do good work.

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Go for the hot chick

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So you have the hot chick as your Dr, she sees you at a bar one night, and the first thing she thinks is "there's the guy with hemorrhoids and nail fungus."

My uncle was in the hospital a while back and his Dr would come in every day in a white coat over a polo with a country club logo on it.

Basic Requirements for me
- Covered by my insurance
- Can take me same day
- Don't have to wait an hour once in room
- Seems somewhat intelligent

Google the one closest to me

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Choose a woman doctor. It elevates prostate exams to a new level.

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I'm over a decade away from getting those. But I will keep that in mind.

All this talk about prostate exams. If you aren’t high risk, why would you consent to one or a PSA for that matter?

Yelp?