When you find out that you or your loved ones are suffering from cancer, you would want to do anything and everything possible in this world to make sure that they recover. You would be engulfed with the decisions that you never thought you might need to make. One of the most important decision would be to choose the doctor for the care and cure of cancer. Though it is not very easy to find the best oncologist but you can always try and surely you would be able to find a good doctor with the help of below mentioned tips:
- Make a list of your preferred oncologists – To find the best doctor for your care, you must create a list of top oncologist in India and then later in the subsequent step, you can review the lists. Find their address and past cases they have dealt with. You can ask your primary health care provider and let him recommend the best oncologist for you. You can also take the help of your friends and family and let them recommend you some oncologist. Also you can create a list with the help of recommendations from the internet.
- Crop the list – You now need to narrow the list down, on the basis of the facts such as quality of the treatment, reviews, genetic assessment, treatment options and clinical trials and all. You must read the doctor’s credentials and also review the remarks as given by the patients. Get in touch with your insurance provider and understand what services are covered by them as offered by the oncologist. Check for the treatments as are covered in your health insurance policy. And then you must also find out if the oncologists accept the insurance or no. For this you can always make a quick call or a visit to the clinic.
- Review again – Though you have already been relying on the reviews to shorten down your list, you must complete this step again once you have narrowed down the list. You need to find out the kind of people who are there in the team of your oncologist. Other supporting members of the cancer team of your doctor may include pathologists who would help you read your laboratory test results, and diagnostic radiologists who would help you in reading your x-rays, and oncology nurses who take care of cancer patients and administer chemotherapy. You may even want to meet the anoncology social worker, as they help you and your family get over and deal with the experiences of cancer. All these people in the team of top oncologist in India should be reviewed.
- Make a final decision – Now that you have narrowed down the list, now just meet them and finalize the doctor who would help you with cancer. Meet the doctor personally and find out his communication skills. Since you are suffering from cancer, the doctor you choose must be aware of the words that he chooses to comfort you and your family instead of scaring them even more.
- The final step – Yes, the final step is to get a second opinion. This will help you to stick to your decision or make a final decision.