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UM medical degree

ChainCane said:
Didn’t say I didn’t think he was there. I just said he said he was there at that time.
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If you have a doctor in the area that you trust, like your family physician, ask them for starters. Don’t come to any conclusions based on UM degree.
 
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5Rings&an Asterisk said:
Seems like you should be checking out the doctor and see if has had any issues. Has he been sued? Has he had complaints that the medical licensing board has investigated?
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Good advice. Also is he Board certified. Drs can have their license and not be board certified. I would also have two other opinions with back surgery.
 
I agree with JT above, research man, check around and find the best. Back surgery is really heavy ****, I wouldnt care where they went to school as long as they are the best.

Good luck to you and your daughter.
 
jed1250 said:
I agree with JT above, research man, check around and find the best. Back surgery is really heavy ****, I wouldnt care where they went to school as long as they are the best.

Good luck to you and your daughter.
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It’s at Nemours in Orlando so I don’t really have too many options
 
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Caneau said:
Good advice. Also is he Board certified. Drs can have their license and not be board certified. I would also have two other opinions with back surgery.
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Dude, UHealth isn’t Leon Medical Centers. At UHealth most doctors are board certified unless they are doing their residency or if a doctor is hired that’s in the process of getting board certified, but those are not common.
 
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ChainCane said:
Anybody have any insight about the medical school. My daughter has to have back surgery and the physician is a grad from UM. Said he was there when they won the 2001 natty.
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If you ask your primary care physician to recommend a surgeon they will usually give you the name of an associate or a friend/acquaintance. Do some research on the net. UM grads are usually good, and they are underrated nationally, however there’s a lot of good ones in the area. Ironically, Kendall Regional has a very good one that came with a very good medical background.
 
gruntking said:
If you ask your primary care physician to recommend a surgeon they will usually give you the name of an associate or a friend/acquaintance. Do some research on the net. UM grads are usually good, and they are underrated nationally, however there’s a lot of good ones in the area. Ironically, Kendall Regional has a very good one that came with a very good medical background.
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Agree. One can also easily find how they are rated by their patients via websites specifically for dr ratings. Healthgrades.com, ratemds.com and vitals.com.
 
Where a surgeon went to medical school is generally much less important to a surgeon's skill than where he did his surgical residency and most importantly where he did his fellowship after his residency. Most surgeons go for a specialty fellowship (feet, cardiac, gastric, orthopedic, Neuro, etc.) after the residency.

Even then, that's no sure predictor of skill. It's best to get the opinion of other doctors. I talk to doctors I know about specialists I need to see.

If you can find a copy of the Castle-Connoly books, that he a helpful source.
 
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gruntking said:
If you ask your primary care physician to recommend a surgeon they will usually give you the name of an associate or a friend/acquaintance. Do some research on the net. UM grads are usually good, and they are underrated nationally, however there’s a lot of good ones in the area. Ironically, Kendall Regional has a very good one that came with a very good medical background.
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Disagree.

While doctors often recommend other doctors whom they know, most physicians do not want to be responsible for referring to a mediocre specialist. Their own reputation is on the line when they make a referral.

If the Orlando Magazine surveys physicians to come up with it's top doctors list, that might be a good start. I would trust that more than patient surveys, although I look at all sources.

All surgeons have had some disappointing outcomes. ALL. There will always be some patients who are unhappy and they blast the doctor in reviews. Hence, such patient reviews are often skewed toward the negative. That's my guess.

Try the Orlando Magazine article:

https://www.orlandomagazine.com/doctors/

Also, two medical people (one a radiologist) told me I'd be better off with a neurosurgeon for routine back surgery (like a fusion) than with an orthopedist. Keep in mind that these two specialties overlap in doing many of the same kind of back surgeries.

Also important: find out how many of the same procedures your daughter will have are performed by the surgeon. I'd rather see 75-100 per year as opposed to 5 or 10. Find a surgeon who has a lot of experience in that type of procedure.

Is she having a fusion?

Medical school is probably almost irrelevant compared to the fellowship, and even that doesn't predict a great surgeon.
 
Is Nemours a children's hospital? If so, might mean the search is completely different. Might want to find a pediatric neurosurgeon who does a lot of spine work. Or a pediatric orthopedist who does spines.
 
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ChainCane said:
Anybody have any insight about the medical school. My daughter has to have back surgery and the physician is a grad from UM. Said he was there when they won the 2001 natty.
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Where an MD graduated from has little to do with patient outcomes.

Questions to ask (if they can't answer find new doc IMMEDIATELY):

- IS your/daughter's EXPECTED outcome realistic given daughter's diagnosis?
- Given your daughter's current condition, how many similar/same surgeries has doc performed?
-- What % of those patients had the EXPECTED outcome you/daughter have

- Remember, data indicates a portion of back surgery patients DO NOT achieve meaningful relief or meet expectations 6-12 mo post-op
 
Do you mind sharing their name? I dealt with a few of them when I was going through back issues at UM
 
apfenny3 said:
Do you mind sharing their name? I dealt with a few of them when I was going through back issues at UM
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I had a 6-hour spinal surgery at UM this past January and I`m happy with the results. I`m pretty sure he`s head of the department. His name is Dr. Ismont. You`ll be in good hands with him. Good luck to you and your daughter.
 
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People who know:
1) Members of the hospital/practice quality improvement committee.
2) residents who train/work with several different surgeons at an academic institution.

Everyone else (nurses/ techs/ administrators/ instrument reps/ other surgeons/ other doctors) only have a small part
of the story on which to base their opinion of a surgeon (patient comorbidities/ patient selection/ procedure selection/ patient education/ intraoperative acumen/ post operative management/ rehab/ short term outcomes/ complications/ long term outcomes)

If you don’t have access to the two aforementioned sources, check for board certification, trust your instincts about the surgeon, get multiple opinions for elective surgeries, don’t place too much value on a brand or another doctor’s recommendation but stay away from anyone that another doctor hesitates to recommend, even briefly.

Best of luck!
 
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