I'm doing something nerdy. I'm taking a late lunch, and reading a public health book. And now, in my nerd-dom, I will share something with you from my reading.
In The Empowered Patient by Elizabeth Cohen (CNN Senior Medical Correspondent), Elizabeth goes over several important things regular Americans need to know when choosing, dealing, and keeping a doctor or other medical assistance professional. {I can call her Elizabeth because I've met her. She hosted a plenary at the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Institute in February.} The particular chapter I'm reading about concerns finding a specific doctor, and tips on doing it quickly. I wanted to share an excerpt with the blogosphere:
How to Find a Doctor's Email Address
1. Google the doctor. An email address might just pop up.
2. If the doctor works at a university or a hospital, see if the email address is listed on the university's website.
3. If the doctor's email address isn't there, look at how other names on the university's or hospital's website are listed, such as john.smith@university.edu or jsmith@hospital.com and try the doctor's name using that format.
4. Use Google Scholar to see if the doctor has written any articles in medical journals. The author's email address is usually listed in these articles.
Good advice, huh? Some of these are no-brainers, but when you're desperate, sometimes you forget your street smarts. I'd also add a fifth option. Ask your other doctors. If you're looking for a surgeon in a particular hospital, why not ask another doctor in that same hospital for their contact information? I've used that method for nonprofit work, not medical care, and it's worked before. It's worth a shot.
Okay, I'll now step out of my nerd-dom and get back to work.
In The Empowered Patient by Elizabeth Cohen (CNN Senior Medical Correspondent), Elizabeth goes over several important things regular Americans need to know when choosing, dealing, and keeping a doctor or other medical assistance professional. {I can call her Elizabeth because I've met her. She hosted a plenary at the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Institute in February.} The particular chapter I'm reading about concerns finding a specific doctor, and tips on doing it quickly. I wanted to share an excerpt with the blogosphere:
How to Find a Doctor's Email Address
1. Google the doctor. An email address might just pop up.
2. If the doctor works at a university or a hospital, see if the email address is listed on the university's website.
3. If the doctor's email address isn't there, look at how other names on the university's or hospital's website are listed, such as john.smith@university.edu or jsmith@hospital.com and try the doctor's name using that format.
4. Use Google Scholar to see if the doctor has written any articles in medical journals. The author's email address is usually listed in these articles.
Good advice, huh? Some of these are no-brainers, but when you're desperate, sometimes you forget your street smarts. I'd also add a fifth option. Ask your other doctors. If you're looking for a surgeon in a particular hospital, why not ask another doctor in that same hospital for their contact information? I've used that method for nonprofit work, not medical care, and it's worked before. It's worth a shot.
Okay, I'll now step out of my nerd-dom and get back to work.
I've found that selecting a good doctor is a very difficult thing to do, especially in a time crunch! Very useful tip!
ReplyDelete