dancesintherain Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 I'm looking for a new endocrinologist because my last one went into academia. Great for the students, bad for me. How much do you trust online reviews? I found someone who can see me relatively quickly (mid-February), but her online reviews are pretty abysmal. Pretty consistently a 2.5 out of 5 with comments related to not taking enough time, not explaining things, not trying to figure things out, etc. I'd normally dump her and try to find something else, but it's only for managing my hypothyroidism, so it's not like it's a big haul. Maybe keep her as a filler until I find someone I like better? There were other practices closer to me but they didn't have openings until March. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookie Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 2 hours ago, dancesintherain said: I'm looking for a new endocrinologist because my last one went into academia. Great for the students, bad for me. How much do you trust online reviews? I found someone who can see me relatively quickly (mid-February), but her online reviews are pretty abysmal. Pretty consistently a 2.5 out of 5 with comments related to not taking enough time, not explaining things, not trying to figure things out, etc. I'd normally dump her and try to find something else, but it's only for managing my hypothyroidism, so it's not like it's a big haul. Maybe keep her as a filler until I find someone I like better? There were other practices closer to me but they didn't have openings until March. not always. It really depends. I had a psychiatrist who had a 1 star rating. Literally almost all his patients had something bad to say. Even the psychologist I spoke to complained about him. My family doctor has a bad rating but he has been pretty good to me so far. Any doctor with middle of the road rating is alright. I think your patient doctor relationship will count most Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerberus Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 With online reviews, whether it's for a service or a product, the very first thing I look at is how many reviews there actually are. The more reviews there are, the more likely it is that you can get an actual significant sampling that represents the diversity of public experience with the subject. The fewer reviews there are, the more likely it is that the overall impression will reflect individual bias. The second thing I do is tally the number of bad reviews against the number of good reviews, even before I read their content. This gives an overall sense of the subject without the influence of bias statements. I always assume that a body of reviews for a product or service is going to be somewhat more heavily weighted to the negative, simply because people tend to issue an opinion more when they have a complaint than when they are satisfied; indeed, one usually finds that the negative reviews are more lengthy and detailed than the positive ones. I also try to read any negative review from the perspective that what the reviewer is complaining about may be that his or her expectations were not met - and this may nor may not be the fault of the service provider or the product in question, but simply the unrealistic expectation, or the inability of the complainer to adapt. If, however, the negative reviews are consistent with one another and illustrate a pattern of negative experience with the product or service, then I have to conclude that there is likely something of substance to the criticism, and take that into consideration. Frankly, I wouldn't rely on online reviews at all; I would ask your own questions at the practice, and find out things like how many appointments the endocrinologist takes in a day, how long the appointments are expected to last, how long the average wait time is from the time you arrive until you are seen, etc., and get a read on whether or not this professional is going to spend the time on you that you need when you are there. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancesintherain Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 thank you both for your helpful thoughts. I'll see how the February appointment goes and go on a search for someone new if it goes poorly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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