As discussed in Part I of this article, many factors should be taken into account when selecting a surgeon. It helps to do your homework on the surgery itself, so that you will be prepared to ask procedure-specific questions at your doctor appointments. Once your surgery is scheduled, your doctor will probably direct you to a patient portal with tutorials or other information about your particular surgery. However, it is worthwhile to seek out other sources of information prior to that stage. Here are some possible resources:
Websites for Surgery Information
HealthGrades
has collections of articles on various kinds of
common surgeries,
including hip replacement, heart surgery, ACL repair, skin cancer surgery, and
more.
PubMed: Medical literature
search
After you click on the procedure on interest, click on the link near
the top of the page to "view all articles" about the surgery.
Videos of Surgical Procedures:
Broadcastmed.com
You can also search for procedures using your favorite
search engine, clicking "video" instead of "all" to narrow the choices. On
YouTube, sometimes there are collections of videos grouped by hospital or
practice. Some of these videos are not for the squeamish; it might be
that you can find one that has a corresponding transcript
available, so that you can follow along (or choose only to read) what
the surgeon is saying and describing. Preferably, choose to watch a video meant
for educational purposes that is produced by a reputable web site or
organization.
American Cancer Society has discussion forums on various kinds of cancers. Simply find the right forum, and type in the surgery name or just the word "surgery" into the keyword box. https://csn.cancer.org/categories
Spine-Health.com has Videos of spine procedures
Websites for U.S. Surgeons and Hospitals Information
Federation of State Medical
Boards
Check your doctor's licensing status at state medical boards
and find out what other states he or she has licenses in or has held licenses in
the past.
American Board of Medical Specialties
Contains contact information for various
medical specialty boards, such as the American
Board of Orthopedic Surgery or the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. You can
link to the boards to verify your doctor's certification.
U.S. News Hospital
Rankings
Scores are based on several factors, including survival, patient safety,
nurse staffing and more. Hospitals are ranked nationally by specialty and
geographically by state and region.
Center for Medicare Services (CMS) Consumer Databases
Hospital Compare
This CMS database gives ratings on hospitals for various performance quality
measures, including patient experience, payment and value of
care, complications and deaths, effectiveness of hospital staff,
and more. Much of this information has been updated for
2023-2024. You can compare up to three hospitals side-by-side.
Includes Veterans Health Administration hospitals
Physician Compare
This CMS
database is a directory of physicians that accept Medicare patients. It contains
medical school, year of graduation, and where the doctor practices. You can
search by zip code, city, or medical specialty area.
Open Payments Database
Now updated with
2022 data, use this CMS database to research payments that a hospital or a
surgeon has received from the pharmaceutical or medical device industry. If you feel that a doctor
is getting far too many payments for giving medical talks, this may be a red
flag for you. Read more about the
Open Payments Database on our website.
Nursing Homes Compare
Medicare web site's "Nursing Home Compare" tool can be used to look up the quality of a specific nursing home or compare nursing homes in a geographic area. Search by zip code, city, state, or facility name.
(While not relevant to surgeon ratings, the overall quality of
care rating for the nursing home, where rehab might take place
after surgery, is available.)
Surgeon Ratings Sites
1. Check out AskaPatient's article, "Comparing
Popular Doctor Ratings Sites" for descriptions and pros and
cons of sites where patients rate their experiences with
doctors.
2.Check out surgeons' complication rates using Checkbook's
Surgeon Ratings database and ProPublica's Surgeon ScoreCard
database. Our
article on Surgeon Ratings ("How to Find a Surgeon Part I") has
descriptions of both databases.
Library Resources
Many authoritative health publications are not freely available on the internet, but may be
available at your local public library or for purchase online. Check for books
on your specific kind of surgery or health condition. The following
comprehensive sources are likely to be in the reference section of your library
in hard copy format or by log-on in electronic format:
The Gale Encyclopedia of Surgery and Medical Tests: a Guide for Patients
and Caregivers,
3rd edition. Editor:
Kristen Key
Covers 600 surgical
procedures, medical tests, and related topics such as anesthetics, common lab
tests and procedures, medications, and postoperative care. This four-volume
hardcover publication costs over $500 so is best used at a library.
Surgery Sourcebook, 4th edition.
Author/Editor: Keith Jones
This 768-page guide describes the most common surgical procedures, including
appendectomy, breast surgery, carotid endarterectomy, cataract removal, cesarean
section, coronary artery bypass, cosmetic surgery,
gallbladder surgery, hemorrhoidectomy, hysterectomy, hernia repair, low back
surgery, prostatectomy, tonsillectomy, and weight-loss (bariatric) surgery.
Publisher: Omnigraphics Health Reference Series. List price: $95.
Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine
An online tool with
academic and consumer-oriented journals and books, and videos, with many on
surgery topics.