If you’re dealing with a medical condition, you want the best doctors and the brightest minds to aid in your treatment. However, since most people aren’t all that familiar with finding the right medical specialist, it can be a little difficult to find a care team that meets your specific needs. With that in mind, we wanted to share five tips to keep in mind when you’re trying to find the right shoulder specialist for your situation.
What To Look For In A Shoulder Surgeon
We recommend keeping these five factors in mind if you are dealing with a shoulder issue and have been told to consider a shoulder clinic for your care.
- Track Record Of Success – It’s always a good idea to keep experience in mind when choosing a surgeon. Someone with twenty years of surgical experience will likely have more familiarity with specific procedures or how to prevent the most common complications associated with care. You want someone with a clear track record of success, so don’t be shy about asking how long a specific surgeon has been performing shoulder operations.
- Surgery Specialty – You also want to ensure that your surgeon has a wealth of experience performing the specific type of procedure you’ll need. If someone only recently began offering total shoulder replacement procedures, they may not be the best option if you need to have your shoulder replaced. Ask about their specific experience with the type of procedure you’ll need. If you come to find out that they don’t have much experience with that procedure once you’ve been diagnosed, consider looking elsewhere for care.
- Communicative – You won’t undergo surgery the first time you meet the shoulder specialist, so use this initial appointment to see if they seem like a good fit, and one way to do that is to really focus on how they communicate during your appointment. Does it feel like they are really listening to you? Are you having a two-way conversation or does it seem like they are doing all the talking? Can they clearly explain what’s going on and the types of treatment available to you? Effective communicators are great at helping patients understand what’s expected of them, which helps drive improved outcomes. Be mindful of how well the dialogue goes between you and your provider during this interaction.
- Their Reviews – The internet has made it much easier for patients to shop around for doctors that might be a good fit for their situation, and oftentimes that process is made easier by patient reviews. You can find patient testimonials on most doctor’s websites, but remember that they control what goes on those pages. A better place to look for real reviews is on Google or social media channels. Here you’ll find unfiltered reviews from former patients who have worked with a provider. Take time to read some reviews and see if the provider has responded to any criticism. Not every patient is going to be satisfied all the time, but if a doctor makes an effort to improve the experience of patients who left a bad or neutral review, it can showcase that they truly care about the health of their patients, even after they’ve been discharged.
- They Listen – While this point could be wrapped into the communication topic, we think it deserves its own category. Find a provider who is really willing to listen to your needs and desires. As a provider with decades of schooling, residency and real-world experience, it can be easy to assume that you know best and to want to tell the patient what’s best for them. But we don’t know what’s best for the patient until we listen to what they hope to achieve with surgery. Find a provider who takes the time to get to know you and understand your motivations for surgery so that they can find the right procedure and recovery plan for you.
If you keep these factors in mind when you’re looking for your shoulder specialist, we’re confident that you’ll find a great provider. And if you’re looking for an experienced shoulder specialist that checks all of the boxes above, look no further than Dr. Holloway. Give his team a call today at (865) 410-7887.
