5 Seeking Quality Gynaecology Care in Kolkata?
Do you know that a woman should visit her gynaecologist for the first time between 13 and 15 years? However, there are several stigmas and taboos revolving around visiting gynaecology clinics in our country, especially in rural regions. In most cases, women search for ‘gynaecology clinics near me’ only after the problem is at its peak. Beyond these, women pick up clinics closer to them or some random doctor with no consideration. So how to choose the right gynaecologist or gynaecology hospital?
Choose Highly Recommended Ones
The first mistake in choosing a good gynaecology hospital is to avoid putting proximity as a primary requirement. Yes, choosing among the gynaecology clinics in your locality is best. Especially if you are planning to visit a doctor throughout your prenatal, natal, and post-natal times, picking someone closer to your home would be more advantageous. However, it is also imperative to choose highly recommended ones. The doctor you select from the gynaecology department should have good ratings, reviews, and skill sets. You can find details regarding the doctor’s educational qualifications and experiences online within a couple of clicks. A young doctor does not always mean a naïve one, but it is also vital to pick the one with adequate experience.
The best way to pick the highly recommended gynaecology hospitals is by reading through the online reviews, through word-of-mouth, and by checking out their facilities, staff experience, and others. Even if the facilities aren’t state-of-the-art, ensure they are not outdated.
Check the Hospital Quality
When visiting a gynaecologist, you visit the entire gynaecology ward, from the shift nurse to the receptionist. Thus, beyond the gynaecology credentials, check out the hospital’s cleanliness, availability of resources/facilities, auxiliary facilities, high-quality staff, around-the-clock care, and others.
It is also essential to pick a hospital with all gynaecology-related requirements inside the campus. Thus, you need not find other service providers for each element. For instance, choose a hospital with all scan facilities, NICU, and others.
If you are looking for a specific need like weekend services, telemedicine options, and others, check whether the hospital you picked offers such tailored services. Although most of these special requirements sound basic enough, not all hospitals would consider so.
Communication Quality
How comfortable are you in talking with your gynaecologist? Most gynaecology clinics take pride in hiring highly-experienced doctors. But how good are they at understanding the patient’s needs? It is wise to pick a place where you are comfortable sharing your ideas, choices, and queries and receive a clear answer. It would be best if you didn’t end up in a hospital where your doctor dictates all the elements without regard for your preferences. Although the doctors have the medical knowledge high ground, certain aspects should be customized based on your choices. Or, at the least, you should be made aware of all the options and why the doctor picked the one.
There is one more factor to communication quality. How easily/quickly can you get in touch with your gynaecology doctor? Do you have to share your queries with the nurses and wait till the end of the day for the doctor? Or, can you immediately access the doctors? If the information has to travel to several grades of the hierarchy, it would take forever to get details, and you might waste time and money just waiting.
Addressing Mental and Physical Wellbeing
A good gynaecology department should handle all the relevant needs. For instance, women during menopause, postpartum, or after miscarriage might be vulnerable to mental issues. Thus, the gynaecology team should efficiently identify such problems, prevent them, offer counselling, or suggest recommended routes towards healing.
Moreover, the team should have adequate resources to meet these additional requirements. For instance, yoga during menopause could be an efficient way to deal with specific symptoms. Even if the hospital does not have a yoga department under the gynaecology ward or on the entire campus, the doctor should be able to direct you towards a licensed therapist or give an insight into the styles of complementary treatments and ways to get the best out of these.
Open communication between the gynaecology department and the patients is also integral to identifying these mental issues and offering better holistic services. It is more of getting a customized treatment. For instance, someone who has undergone trauma related to a gynaecology issue would need a gynaecologist, a therapist, and a good listener with an open mind.
License and Certifications
The doctor, support staff, and other professionals in the hospital should be licensed practitioners, and the hospital itself should have all required certifications. The certification does not directly affect the quality of care. However, these certifications would ensure that all necessary specialists are available in-house and that the hospital is up to the mark in malpractice prevention, cleanliness, and others. Moreover, you can be sure that the hospital did not cut any corners in safety or primary functions.
Although it takes just a few minutes to cross-verify the certifications and licenses, most people postpone it, and many are even afraid to ask their doctors. Never be afraid to enquire about their credentials, your treatment plan, and other options, and even ask for good recommendations for a second opinion. Moreover, certified and licensed hospitals have better insurance coverage. Almost all top insurance players would be open to covering your healthcare experiences at such hospitals. Given the cost of healthcare in India, it becomes crucial to pick a good gynaecology hospital that accepts your insurance.
The best way to get to know the gynaecology department is by meeting them face to face. Set up an initial consultation, and during the consultation, make a note of every element starting from how the receptionist schedules your appointment to how the doctor reacts to queries. If you do not want to go for the trial and error method, the best option would be to go for the best gynaecology hospital in your locality with the best/most reasonable rating and online reviews.
Make sure to check out 7 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY