Those of us who've received a cancer diagnosis know how important having the right doctor can be. After all, we're going to literally place our life in the hands of just a few cancer specialists, and so we want those hands to be the most capable ones we can find.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to find a fail-safe method for identifying the best possible doctor to suit our individual needs. But, together, we have experience -- experience that might be able to make one another's search a little bit easier.

Leveraging your support network
Put away the Yellow Pages. No matter how rushed you feel -- or how quickly your cancer may be growing -- you owe it to yourself to be a little more selective in choosing a cancer specialist than you are in choosing a plumber. Leverage each of your available cancer-care resources to the fullest extent:

Your current doctor
Your current doctor is a great resource -- he or she knows lots of doctors in other fields and lots about them. Chances are, you're not the first person they treated who has cancer. Ask them who their other patients have used. Ask them who they would go to see if they were in your shoes.

Your support group
A big part of the reason for building a support group is to talk to other people who've been where you are now. Ask them how they choose. Ask them what questions they would ask if they had to do it all over again. If their doctor is in your area, ask them what they like or dislike about the doctor.

wikiCancer
This site was created to help disseminate the shared experiences of the cancer community. Seek advice from those of us who've been there before about our experiences with doctors in your area by reading feedback on doctors and facilities.

Your insurance company
Your insurance company may be another resource for you to consult. They may have information to help you compare doctors or other support groups you can tap into. Either way, be sure to check which doctors are covered by your insurance plan.

Other online resources
In addition to wikiCancer, there are several other online resources you may wish to consult. Take a look at the feedback on other cancer websites section for ideas.

Interviewing doctors
Once you have a few names in hand, it's time to start interviewing doctors. This might seem strange but in this day and age, with so much information out there just ripe for the reading, our doctors expect us to know what we're looking for, and to ask educated questions.

Interviewing tips
Some tips before you visit a potential doctor:

• Write down your questions and list the most important questions first to be sure you get to them.
• Bring up-to-date medical records.
• Bring a list of all prescription and over-the-counter medications you're taking (including vitamins and herbal supplements).
• Keep a notepad handy so you can jot down things as they occur to you.
• Consider bringing a small tape recorder if you want to listen to your discussion later.
• Don't hesitate to have the doctor repeat what they said if you don’t understand -- they are there in part to educate.
• Consider bringing your significant other, a friend or a relative with you to help you remember what you discussed.

Interview questions
Some questions you might want to ask:

• What hospital do you practice at?
• Where do you have admitting privileges?
• How many nurses are on your staff?
• Do you specialize in treatment for my kind of cancer?
• How many patients with my type of cancer are your currently treating?
• How often do you perform the various types of treatment for my type of cancer?
• Do you do clinical research?
• Do your patients participate in clinical trials?
• Having seen my medical records, what are the sorts of recommendations you can provide for me?

The intangibles
A lot of how we choose a doctor may depeond on gut feelings about how a particular doctor will meet our specific needs. How much gut feelings matter will depend on what you need. For example, bedside manners may matter a lot to those of us who are looking for a doctor who will be by our side through a year-long course of chemotherapy and radiation. If what you need is a just good surgeon, her personality and level of empathy may make little difference.

In the end, it comes down to is trust. We need to be able to trust our physicians implicitly -- at least as much as one can trust a person who is about to cut you open, zap you with radiation or put stuff in your veins that’ll make you lose all of your hair. We need to feel like they're on our side, on our team. We need to feel like they're going to fight for our life as hard as we are.

See also

• Choosing a cancer-care facility
• Feedback on doctors and facilities
• Choosing a treatment
• Planning your treatment