Unlike men, women face a lot of health issues during their lifetime. Most of these health complications keep on changing from time to time and are caused by age, genetic inheritance, lifestyle and much more. These factors can cause health complications specific to women only. That’s why every woman should set regularly scheduled visits with a medical practitioner for regular check-ups.
With that said, depending on the health issue at hand, you may want to visit qualified specialists in women’s healthcare to identify problems and find solutions to them. But before you visit them, you must understand the symptoms you’re experiencing. Understanding your symptoms will help the doctor provide the best treatment plan, along with the right medication. Some symptoms might be similar for different conditions in most cases, but narrating them to your doctor could be a great help to find the best care for your condition.
This article walks you through the medical specialists women are likely to face during their lifetime and explains how you can find the best doctors in your area.
- Gynaecologist
A gynaecologist is a doctor who specializes in female reproductive health. In other words, a gynaecologist is a trained person who helps treat women’s reproductive systems and organs, including the uterus, vagina and ovaries.
Also, a gynaecologist is a medical professional you should visit whenever you face premenstrual, menstrual and other hormone-related issues. You can also consult a gynaecologist when you experience some complications during your menopausal age.
In women, most health problems they experience with their reproductive system start when they reach puberty and may continue disturbing them for the rest of their lives. This means that once a woman hits puberty age, especially with women who experience delayed puberty they should start visiting gynaecologists—or, at the very least, family doctors—for check-ups. So to ensure you live well and avoid problems to your reproductive system, you need to consider making a gynaecologist your lifetime companion.
Even if you’re not experiencing any symptoms, it’d be helpful to visit your gynaecologist once every year for a regular pelvic examination. This ensures you stay healthy and prevent future health complications.
Apart from treating issues to your reproductive health, a gynaecologist can also deal with sexually transmitted infections and other women’s general conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and depression. Also, if you want to use a birth control method that best suits you, a gynaecologist can direct you to the right ones. They can test and advise you on the best birth control method that best suits your body.
- Obstetricians
While a gynaecologist specializes in the female reproductive system, an obstetrician deals with the health of pregnant women and their babies. After graduating from medical school, an obstetrician is a doctor who joined and completed a four-year residency program in obstetrics.
The residency training programs equip obstetricians with enough knowledge to help deal with health issues during pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, labour, childbirth and post-pregnancy. In other words, their expertise is essential during all stages of a woman’s pregnancy. They make sure the mother and the baby are healthy throughout the process.
During pregnancy, some complications such as foetal distress and ectopic pregnancy can arise, posing dangers to both the mother and the unborn baby. That’s where an obstetrician comes in. An obstetrician can help avoid the occurrence of such conditions.
Also, an obstetrician can assist a woman when giving birth. So whether you’re delivering your baby naturally or you’ve considered a caesarean section, then you must consider getting help from a qualified private obstetrician who will check your unborn baby’s health, your health and discuss which option is best suited for you in your condition.
During the prenatal period, an obstetrician ensures that both mother and baby get the best prenatal care to ensure the delivery goes without complications. After the delivery, an obstetrician focuses on ensuring that the mother is transitioning well to their normal routines, plus the added responsibility of taking care of the baby. They also provide advice on what the mother and the child should eat to keep them healthy.
- Endocrinologist
An endocrinologist is a doctor trained to deal with the endocrine system, the system responsible for regulating hormones in the body. Endocrinologists are specialists who can treat diseases and conditions related to hormonal imbalances and glands. Hormones are one of the most critical aspects of human survival. They can advise treatment and medication to help regulate one’s body temperatures, mood, sleep, stress and even growth.
Hormones are produced by the endocrine glands such as the thyroid and pituitary glands. Though hormonal imbalances can cause other health issues like metabolic disorders and thyroid diseases, the most common reported problem is infertility. Infertility is a condition where a woman isn’t able to conceive. So if you cannot get pregnant, you might be infertile, so you’ll need to consult an endocrinologist. An endocrinologist can help you explore various options you can try to help you conceive.
Though endocrinologists help women address their infertility disorders, they can also provide treatment to infertile men. So if either of the partners (male or female) has fertility issues, they can consider visiting an endocrinologist for treatment. Some of the issues that can force you to seek the help of an endocrinologist include irregular ovulation, blockage of the fallopian tubes, or if you’ve got a history of medical complications like miscarriages.
- Certified Nurse Midwife
A certified nurse midwife is a trained and licensed healthcare provider who also specializes in women’s reproductive health. They’ve been recognized for centuries for providing healthcare services to women of all ages. Some of the services offered by nurse midwives include prenatal check-ups and delivery services.
Nurses also work to ensure both the mother and the child thrive in postpartum by offering advice to mothers to ensure they make appropriate birth plans. This ensures babies are born in better conditions.
Other functions of a nurse midwife include admitting and discharging women from birth centres, gynaecological examinations, family planning advice, medical prescriptions, counselling and education and general primary care for women.
How Can You Find The Best Doctor?
As a woman, your health is very important, and choosing a doctor is a decision you can only make by yourself. However, finding the best doctor to partner with can sometimes be stressful and overwhelming. Since you’re going to expose some of your sensitive body parts to them, finding a doctor who is professional and can keep confidential information about you is critical so you feel comfortable telling them whatever ails you.
In this section, you’re going to learn how to find the best doctor who can help meet your needs.
Get Referrals
Getting referrals is one of the most effective ways to find the best doctor. Talk with your relatives and friends who have previously gone through a similar health issue you’re currently dealing with. You can also ask your primary care doctor to recommend a specialist who can help deal with your health issue.
After getting a list of referrals, it’d be helpful to do your research to find the best doctor that fits your schedule, your preferences, etc. When doing your research, be sure to get to know the qualifications and experience of your preferred doctor.
Also, be sure to confirm whether your preferred doctor has any history of disciplinary or malpractice cases. Finally, before committing to one doctor, on your first consult, assess how they answer your questions and ask questions to verify symptoms, which procedures they’d order or how they treat their other patients. Interviewing them will give you confidence on whether or not they’ll be able to solve your problem.
Consider Gender
As mentioned, most of the health problems will require you to expose your private parts to your doctor and with whom you’ll discuss some vital and very personal information. So to ensure you get the best service, consider working with a doctor to whom you’re comfortable disclosing your information.
In most cases, some women are reluctant and can find it difficult to seek treatment from a male doctor. So if gender matters to you, consider finding a qualified doctor of a similar gender to yours. But at the same time, you shouldn’t suffer when you can easily get treatment from a male doctor near you. So it’s important to be flexible when looking for treatment.
Find A Quality Medical Institution
After you’ve settled with a doctor of your choice, it’d be helpful to find reviews and cases that speak highly of the quality of services offered in their institution. The quality of their services is a matter of concern because patients treated from an institution with the most up-to-date equipment, a roster of experienced medical staff and top-notch client and patient care have reported fewer complications than from low-rated institutions.
Check Your Doctor’s Availability
While your preferred doctor might be the best in town, you need to find out whether they can be available when you need them. Is it easy to book an appointment with them? How long will you wait after booking your appointment? Those are some of the questions you need to ask.
Though the best doctors are always booked, you can always find ways of talking to them like consulting them online. For instance, you can find out which communication channel your doctor prefers to use. Though it’s highly unlikely for medical professionals to consult over the phone, when your doctor prefers this way, you may call them to plan which day and time is best you could meet with them. When you meet, be sure to set your schedule with your doctor and block their calendar for your check-ups.
Evaluate Your Doctor’s Communication Style
Communication style is another major consideration you must consider when finding the best doctor for you. So when you first meet your doctor, ask them some questions and try to notice how they respond to you. A good doctor should show interest in your questions and answer them in a way you can understand. Also, your doctor should be able to listen to you and respect your decisions.
Check Doctor’s Certifications
Certification is a license given to doctors to show that they are specialists in particular areas of the medical practice. Doctors are awarded certifications after going for specialized education after they graduate from general medical schools.
To maintain their practicing certificates, doctors are required to stay up-to-date on research and practice standards. So before you decide to seek help from your preferred doctor, be sure that their certificates are up-to-date.
Also, consider your doctor’s subspecialties. For instance, you might find a gynaecologist specializing in treating cervical cancer and not in maternity. Such a doctor may not provide help in your pregnancy. Having such information can help you make the right decision when finding the best doctor for you.
Read Online Reviews
Reading other customers’ reviews can also help you find the best doctor available. Ideally, reviews reflect the experience and the quality of services you should expect from your doctor.
Reading reviews is simple because you only need to search online for the doctor’s name and where they’re practicing. After checking their websites, go to the comments or the reviews section and read what other people have to say about the doctor. If other people have had a fantastic experience with your preferred doctor, you’re also likely to experience the same.
Reading reviews will also help you know how well the doctor can respond to your queries and how long they can take to serve you after booking the appointment.
Takeaway
Women face several health challenges during their lifetime. Most of these challenges start when women reach puberty age and even beyond the menopausal years. That’s why, as a woman, you need to understand your body’s health and create life-long connections with your doctors.
As discussed in this post, there are a handful of doctors who can help women when faced with health complications specific to them during your lifetime. However, when choosing your doctor, think through to find out if they’re qualified and if they could find solutions to your health issues.
For instance, if you’re particularly interested in keeping healthy before pregnancy, you may want to find an obstetrician. If you aim to treat problems in your reproductive system, you must visit a gynaecologist. Also, before you visit your doctor, depending on the health condition you’re suffering from, prepare questions about your health condition so both of you could create a proper treatment plan.
