Equanimity Fall Edition - 2011 : Page 35
Healthcare fitness & nutrition Where Would You go to Find the Right healthcaRe PRovideR? By David Nicholls If you were asked to describe the difference between a chiropractor and a physiotherapist, could you do it? If you weren’t confident about your knowledge of the differences, how would you know which one is most suitable to treat your backache? When we have a health problem that we don’t think warrants a trip to our general practitioner, and decide it is time to get it sorted out, most of us rely on the recommendations of friends or family by describing our ailment and listening to their experiences and advice. This is a common problem in many healthcare professions. We’d all know where to go to soothe our toothache, but where is the best place for a shiny new full set of teeth? Is it your normal dentist or should you see a specialist? Should you stay in the local area, or can you get it better, faster or cheaper elsewhere? With so much confusion about which healthcare specialists are appropriate, the use of the Internet really does come into its own. Sites are now available that can match up your ailments to specific healthcare providers in a location of your choice, making the search journey for a patient that much easier. For the public at large, the Internet has made an incredible difference, and it’s growing all the time. More frequently, people go straight online to find out about their complaint or condition even before seeing their GP. What hasn’t been available until recently is the answer to the question, ‘so where do we go from here?’ It’s not always obvious who they should see to get the problem sorted out. The healthcare profession offers an incredibly wide and potentially confusing range of services. The Internet has meant that the public can now identify the right specialist considerably easier than in the past. In recent years, the growth in what is called ‘Medical Tourism’ where many overseas countries can offer excellent professional services and procedures at an incredibly competitive rate. These are often quicker, and the ability to research the availability of such services empowers the public. This has only occurred since the growth of sites that review medical services, allowing all this information to become available to you in a simple to use and readable format. When you go to a restaurant, you wouldn’t ask the people at the next table what they would recommend, so why shouldn’t our healthcare requirements be any less important? Instead, consider looking your information up on one of the available websites that are there to help you find what you need. David Nicholls is co-director of The Clinic Finder at www.theclinicfinder.com. equanimitymag.com 35
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