by KYW's medical editor Dr. Brian McDonough
How do you pick a hospital? For that matter how do you even start to find out which is best for you?
There are so many surveys and statistics and choices you are left to wonder, is the closest hospital the best for me? My biggest piece of advice is to take a look at the options when you are healthy, not when you are feeling ill. This is the time when you are least able to make such a decision. If you have a particular chronic health issue you can research it as well.
If you have the time, make sure that your physician treats a lot of these types of patients. For a number of these diseases there seems to hold true the adage that practice makes perfect. It’s not just the physician but the hospital, because we know that it takes a team to deliver these services, especially for surgical procedures, it’s the ICU team, the anesthesia team, the nursing team, all working together. If you’re going to have a procedure make sure the hospital and your physician do a number of these. More likely you’ll get a better outcome.
If you do look at websites gather data from more than one and compare to get a more accurate picture.
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