Check the Ratings for Your MDs Online

hild that they can trust and ask questions to. If you're a new parent, a parent that is new to the area and doesn't know other parents nearby, how do you find a doctor for you and your family? Look up the doctor's rating on various doctor review websites available at no cost online.

There are several websites that provide a complete profile of all, if not most, pediatricians in your general vicinity. These websites offer you a profile for all doctors in general, including family practice doctors and those that deal with specialties such as gynecologists, cardiologists, podiatrists, etc. You can use the following websites to find a doctor for anyone in your family and see what other patients' opinions of him or her are. The websites I found most useful were RateMDs.com, Vitals.com, DrScore.com and FindaDoc.com.

At RateMds.com, a parent will find basic information on a doctor, however, the information is not always complete. Information such as location, gender, specialty, webpage, hospital affiliation, phone number and whether they are accepting new patients is available on the site. As previously mentioned, the demographical information is not always complete, however, this website provides detailed and honest patient reviews. Many of the doctors on the site have several reviews from patients with great detail. The reviews are rated on punctuality, helpfulness, knowledge & overall quality of the doctor.

This is the most user friendly of the websites and gives you the most descriptive patient information. It doesn't offer as much information on the doctor's education, hospital background or certification though. If you're looking for honest and thorough patient opinions, however, this is the website you'd want to go to. Most of the time, the patient rating is what's most important in finding a doctor. They may not work at the most prestigious hospitals or have the degree from the most prestigious university but they treat their patients well and give them the time and attention they deserve.

The website Vitals.com is another useful website that provides detailed information and reviews on family practice doctors, surgeons and specialists. Vitals.com provides doctor's website information if they have one, address, phone number, gender, specialty, hospital affiliation, education, board certification, average patient wait time, direction to the office and patient ratings. The patient ratings are categorized by ease of appointment, promptness, courteous staff, accurate diagnosis, bedside manner, how much time is spent with the patient and follow up information. This is, by far, one of the most detailed of the four websites, however, it doesn't always have as many patient ratings or as many patient comments based on the ratings. It seems like a fairly new website with few reviews submitted, if any, on some of the doctors I searched for. If you're looking for a good overall profile of the doctor, search this website first and see if the doctor you're inquiring about has been reviewed.

At DrScore.com, a patient can find a doctor's address, phone number, practice, gender, hospital affiliation, education and residency. There are some patient ratings on this website, however, much fewer than the other doctor rating websites reviewed. The ratings are also not categorized. Overall this website provides basic information on the doctor. The doctors I looked up had yet to be rated so I could not find any patient opinions them. If all that you are looking for is simple information such as address, phone number, hospital information, etc, this is the easiest website to find it at.

Findadoc.com is another doctor rating website. This is the only website that you have to register your information with and log in prior to being able to search for information on a doctor. While registering is something that many people do not like to do since it usually leads to receiving spam emails, it may be worth it in order to access information on this website. You have to provide your email address, name, address and year of birth. Having said that, it is one of the most thorough websites available with the most amount of information. It may be worth it to register. It also has an option to search for dentists. Findadoc.com provides a doctor or dentist's address & phone number, specialty, hospital affiliation, education, residency, doctor endorsements, years of experience, languages spoken, board certification and whether they are accepting new patients. As with other websites, Findadoc.com also provides reviews. Their patient reviews are categorized by office staff ratings, office setting, wait time, medical knowledge, bedside manner, patient confidence and patient satisfaction

Overall, the four websites listed above all provide different but useful information when researching doctors to care for yourself and your family. If you are looking for a new doctor, do your research and visit the websites above. These sites are not only useful if you're looking for a new doctor but to find out what other patients think of your current doctor. It's always good to know more about the people you trust to care for your family. You may be surprised by what you find I certainly was!

More resources

• www.ratemds.com
• www.vitals.com
• www.drscore.com