Is your doctor board certified?

[Principessa]

I recently found out that a doctor whose treatment I have been fairly satisfied with is NOT board certified. Unfortunately, he is the only endocrinologist that is in-network for my health plan within a 25 mile radius.

Usually when a person does pre-med in the USA, but medical school in the Carribean or Mexico it means they couldn't get into an American medical school. I was taught to believe this meant they were bad doctors even if they graduated tops in their class.

The flip side of this is that a doctor educated in the UK or Europe is often considered to be a good thing. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's because their medical schools and universities are so much older than those in the USA.

Is your doctor board certified? Do you care?
Do you care where your doctor went to medical school?

What Board Certification Means

Medical specialty certification in the United States is a voluntary process. While medical licensure sets the minimum competency requirements to diagnose and treat patients, it is not specialty specific. Board certification—and the Gold Star—demonstrate a physician’s exceptional expertise in a particular specialty and/or subspecialty of medical practice.

The Gold Star signals a board certified physician’s commitment and expertise in consistently achieving superior clinical outcomes in a responsive, patient-focused setting. Patients, physicians, healthcare providers, insurers and quality organizations look for the Gold Star as the best measure of a physician’s knowledge, experience and skills to provide quality healthcare within a given specialty.

How a Physician Becomes Board Certified




My apologies to those in the UK and other countries where board certification is not an issue/requirement. I wasn't trying to exclude you. This, is about me. :biggrin1: :redface:

 

[AlteredEgo]

My best friend is in med school in Mexico. Due to bad grades from ten years ago when she didn't know what to do with herself, she cannot get into American medical school. She is getting a fine education in Mexico. She will return with more hands-on experience than US doctors, far less debt, and a second language firmly under her belt. My father-in-law was trained in the Dominican Republic. He didn't speak English at the time. An American school would have been inappropriate. He now works in the prison system, and is a damn' fine PA.

My endocrinologist rocks! He might be the best doctor I've ever had. He went to med school in Turkey, completed his residency in Pittsburg, is affiliated with 4 hospitals, and has completed a fellowship.

I do not believe he is board certified either, but I could be wrong. I don't care. Best. Doctor. EVER!

 

[ManlyBanisters]

The flip side of this is that a doctor educated in the UK or Europe is often considered to be a good thing. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's because their medical schools and universities are so much older than those in the USA.

Maybe it's because they're generally better.

 

[Dave NoCal]

Well, I have chronic Lyme disease that went undiagnosed at least ten years while my health continually deteriorated. I went to all kinds of university-based best docs and accumulated about twelve diagnoses all of which were being treated in various ways. Then I took a trip to Mexico and got bronchitis, which was recurrent, while I was there. I went to see a doctor at a pharmacy and, after spending about half an hour talking with and examining me he said "You have some kind of chronic disseminated infection but I don't have a way of finding out what it is." A couple of years later I was in the U.S. and woke up with conjunctivitis (pink eye). It was new years day and the only place open, other than the hospital, was a walk in clinic where there was one PA and no other patients. He spent about half an hour talking with me about my health problems as he had already treated me twice for bronchitis (I said it was recurrent) and then he asked me "Have you ever been tested for Lyme disease?" It had never occurred to me but then I remembered having had a tick attachment about twelve years earlier. I went home, got on the web and after an hour or so it all made sense. That was seven years ago and I have been being treated with LONG TERM antibiotics and am essentially well.
What I get from this is that, while the quality of the education and certification are important, there are individual qualities that are equally important. One of those is being open to information and being able to think of unexpected possibilities.
Dave

 

[SpeedoMike]

regardless of anything else, a medical doctor must be licensed in the USA. shouldn't that put them all on an equal footing?

 

[Principessa]

Maybe it's because they're generally better.

I've got a head cold, my father is in the hospital, and on Thursday my mother was diagnosed with a disease that may kill her. Your supercilious, snarky snipes are not appreciated. :irked:

regardless of anything else, a medical doctor must be licensed in the USA. shouldn't that put them all on an equal footing?

No, it does not; and you are naive to think so.
Someone graduates at the top and bottom of every class. Do you want the doctor that graduated 297 out of a class of 315? I don't.

 

[ManlyBanisters]

I've got a head cold, my father is in the hospital, and on Thursday my mother was diagnosed with a disease that may kill her. Your supercilious, snarky snipes are not appreciated. :irked:

Am I supposed to have known that in advance and been nice-wicey to your widdle self?

It was a genuine comment and, while I'm sorry you're having issues, they have fuck all bearing on this thread.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

The flip side of this is that a doctor educated in the UK or Europe is often considered to be a good thing. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's because their medical schools and universities are so much older than those in the USA.

Is this even true?
Better than American-trained doctors?
I wonder.

 

[Principessa]

Am I supposed to have known that in advance and been nice-wicey to your widdle self?

It was a genuine comment and, while I'm sorry you're having issues, they have fuck all bearing on this thread.

:bryce:

Is this even true?

Better than American-trained doctors?
I wonder.

I didn't say that they were better than American or Canadian doctors. I merely mentioned that some people think they are because they are from across the pond.

 

[b.c.]

If your doctors are anything like MOST those I've experienced over the last decade then:

1. They don't know their assholes from a hole in the wall.
2. They don't remember shit about you from when last they saw you.
3. You'll have to do your own followup. Sure as hell don't depend on them to remember.
4. If you're waiting for them to call you about those latest lab results, I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[68306]

My doctor works too hard and could possibly do with rest or sleep.

He passes those 4 tests though.

 

[Onslow]

I've got a head cold, my father is in the hospital, and on Thursday my mother was diagnosed with a disease that may kill her.

That is bad news. What disease does the mother have?

 

[ManlyBanisters]

Ons- the OP has been banned - she can't answer you.

 

[Onslow]

Ons- the OP has been banned - she can't answer you.

Maybe I can find answers in her blogs if yet they still exist.


Oh crap, there's more than 200 of them guess I won;t be going there.

 

[AlteredEgo]

If your doctors are anything like MOST those I've experienced over the last decade then:

1. They don't know their assholes from a hole in the wall.
2. They don't remember shit about you from when last they saw you.
3. You'll have to do your own followup. Sure as hell don't depend on them to remember.
4. If you're waiting for them to call you about those latest lab results, I wouldn't hold my breath.

My endocrinologist (the one who I don't think is board certified, which I mentioned above) either takes really great notes, or genuinely cares about me and my health. I'm seeing him later today. He takes my fears (even irrational ones) very seriously, and has gone so far as to bring in specialists in other fields to back up his assurances. He remembers the most trivial details about my personal life, and really seems interested in the outcome. He called me to follow up well before he even said I should call his office for my results. Days before. He just wanted me to be able to relax. "It's not cancer!" Music to my ears. I wish my GP was as good.

Speaking of which: If any of you use doctors affiliated with the Miller School of Medicine at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, and you LOVE your GP, please send me a PM with his or her name. My GP is a humorless cunt and her staff are lying idiots.