How to choose a doctor for treatment abroad?
Faced with serious health problems, we begin to look for the right doctor. The first thought that comes to our mind at this moment is to ask friends and acquaintances about the contacts of specialists. There is a lot of information received, and it does not always fully meet the request. To search, you can go to specialized websites or to private medical companies. But there is usually data on the clinic or department, but not on a specific doctor.
In most cases, at the initial stages of treatment, it is important to find an experienced doctor who will be able to make a diagnosis and conduct treatment correctly. After all, the improvement, remission, and in some situations, complete healing depend on his knowledge and skills. It is up to the patient and his family to decide which specialist to trust in difficult cases. And we will tell you how to choose the right doctor abroad and what to pay attention to, when searching for him.
Reasons for treatment abroad
Of course, treatment abroad is very expensive. But foreign doctors are usually referred to in severe cases, when faith in the strength and capabilities of domestic specialists has dried up. A large percentage of requests to foreign doctors are related to the treatment of cancer. In this case, for many patients, consultation and treatment abroad become the only correct solution that prolongs life. This is due to the fact that there are a number of specialists abroad who can overcome the dangerous disease thanks to new methods and modern medicines.
There are also many requests to specialists from abroad, related to rare diseases. These are very narrowly focused industries, and there are only a few doctors who study and treat these ailments. Usually, such specialists combine practice and research activities. Therefore, their treatment methods are of interest not only for the patient, but also for science.
The selection of a specialist is carried out for three reasons:
- Diagnostics;
- Consultation and appointment of treatment (analysis of previously made tests, conclusions);
- Treatment (surgery, conservative treatment, etc.).
Five criteria for choosing a foreign doctor
When selecting a foreign specialist, it is necessary to take into account
- his/ her specialization;
- qualification;
- experience;
- place of work;
- patient reviews.
When the diagnosis is made and it is necessary to determine the treatment, we recommend that you look for a doctor with a specialization in specific diseases. He has more experience in the required field than a general practitioner.
Qualification. In many European countries, a 15-year medical education is required to start a career as a doctor. This is a very difficult path, which allows you not only to get the necessary knowledge and skills, but also to decide on a specialization, to begin to study some area in depth. However, getting a medical education is not a guarantee that we have a good specialist in front of us.
When choosing a doctor, it is necessary to take into account not only his education, but also:
• Place of study;
• Internship practice time;
• Availability of additional education: courses, master classes, seminars, etc.;
• Certificates received by the doctor (of international or national significance);
• Membership in international or national medical communities.
An important factor in choosing a specialist is the knowledge of the language in which the patient and his relatives can talk to the doctor. This can be either English (generally accepted in the world medical community), or your native language.
If there is no common language for communication, you need to use the services of an interpreter. But this increases the cost of treatment. It should be remembered that the main language of the doctor is his native language. And knowing others is just an additional option.
Tip: when contacting a foreign specialist, it is necessary to translate all previously received medical documentation in advance. It is necessary to make sure that the translation is done by specialists who are familiar with medical terminology.
Experience. The presence of relevant experience is an important part of the characteristics of the doctor. If a doctor has extensive experience working in a hospital, private or public clinic, then we can already talk about his professionalism. Teaching at a university and the presence of scientific publications is another point that helps to assess the level of training of a doctor.
When evaluating experience, the development of clinical thinking in a specialist is important. The more cases of various diseases he meets in the work, the faster he makes a diagnosis and prescribes the right treatment.
During the search for a surgeon, you can evaluate his professional skills only by comparing the number of operations with the percentage of success (in this case, not only the positive outcome of the operation is considered, but also the effectiveness that the surgical intervention gave in the treatment).
In any case, it is important that the doctor has extensive experience of treatment in the area that the patient needs. And the more specialized the doctor is, the more carefully and accurately he conducts diagnosis and treatment. Since it is a specific focus that is the area of his interests.
The place where the doctor works. The experience of a doctor who works in a hospital is always valued higher than the skills of a doctor from a private clinic. The place where the doctor sees also affects the effectiveness of the consultation and treatment itself. After all, if the patient needs to conduct additional research, it is easier and faster to do it in the same clinic where the appointment takes place.
Often, foreign medicine is based on a multidisciplinary approach, that is, treatment is carried out under the supervision of several doctors with related specializations. In fact, the patient does not go to one doctor, but to several. This is a common practice in many American and Israeli medical systems. Therefore, if the doctor works in a hospital, there is a high probability that several people will observe and additionally examine the patient. Teamwork allows you to successfully treat the patient and monitor the indicators of his pathological condition in dynamics. Such a systematic approach is especially effective in diseases associated with infertility and non-gestation, where a well-coordinated work of an endocrinologist, gynecologist and reproductologist is required.
When choosing a doctor, you should pay attention to the specialists of the hospital at any university. Such doctors usually work according to the most modern, often experimental methods, many of which help patients to survive. Know-how, patented author's methods of treatment – all this is an advantage when searching for a doctor to conduct diagnostics and treatment in particularly severe cases.
Reviews. It is only possible to collect information about the quality of services provided by a doctor based on objective assessments. They can be given either by patients or their relatives, or compiled by specialized medical publications. A doctor can be known not only as a specialist in one country, but also in the world. Therefore, you can safely trust international specialized journals and periodicals.
Do not trust openly advertising articles and a large number of reviews about a little-known specialist. Often such materials are just a commercial move to advertise the clinic and the name of the doctor. Therefore, the information must be carefully rechecked. Fortunately, you can find almost any data about a specialist on the Internet today. Take a closer look at the forums and discussions of visitors on thematic sites. After all, it is often in such places that you can find honest reviews about the successes and failures of the doctor.
The importance of the doctor's treatment methods
The question of the doctor's qualifications is closely related to the methods that he uses in the treatment. For many patients, it is important to use innovative technologies in the process of diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, when choosing a doctor, you should learn more about the methods that he uses in therapy. Often, the author's methods of the doctor can reduce the severity of the disease or achieve a state of remission. However, if you are offered to use such a treatment option, before the consultation, you should still thoroughly study the essence of the proposed method, analyze how it is possible to apply it to a specific disease and health condition.
For many patients, choosing a foreign doctor is the only way to improve their health. The use of new methods of treatment and an integrated approach to solving the problem is what foreign medicine can offer to patients from other countries.
To analyze the services, you can contact private firms that select foreign specialists depending on the diagnosis, stage of the disease, and the characteristics of the course of the disease. But the final decision about treatment is made by the patient and his close relatives. It is not recommended in severe cases to choose one or another method of treatment independently, it is better to find out the opinion about the treatment of the disease from at least two doctors. The opinions of experts help to develop the most effective strategy in the fight against a serious illness.
What diseases are most often treated by foreign specialists?
When preparing for treatment abroad, it is necessary to choose not only a doctor, but also a country, in accordance with the disease.
Perhaps, the most common reason for treatment abroad is cancer. Most people with a diagnosis of cancer come to doctors in the United States, Germany, Japan, Israel, and Switzerland. Infertile couples most often seek help from German doctors. For heart problems, patients choose specialists from Israel and Germany. For orthopedic treatment and prosthetics of joints, you can contact Italian specialists. But the treatment of asthma and lungs is trusted by doctors in Israel and Bulgaria.
This is an average of data showing that patients prefer to be treated by foreign doctors in many serious cases. The organization of such treatment is troublesome and expensive. After all, in addition to the costs of medical consultations, tests, medicines, operations, it is necessary to take care of the arrival, accommodation, registration of travel documents and transport.
All these issues can be solved either independently by calling the clinic where the doctor works, or by contacting specialized companies engaged in international medical tourism. Which option is more preferable you should decide individually in each specific case.