Frequently Asked Questions

About CareSeek

What is CareSeek?

CareSeek is an online resource for consumers seeking care. CareSeek's community platform delivers an extensive database of providers and allows others to freely research the providers’' practice information and credentials, as well as offer personal opinions on the quality of the care they deliver.  CareSeek hosts a consortium of other sites, such as NursesRecommendDoctors, which all share the common tools and contribute to the shared knowledge base.  Through the CareSeek community, patients, families and medical professionals have the opportunity to contribute to a balanced viewpoint and open sharing of impressions providing healthcare consumers with the information they need to make better choices regarding their healthcare providers.

Who can become a CareSeek member?

Anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address can join any of the CareSeek sites.  Members choose to register as different member types, depending upon their expertise, experience and perspectives.  The member types are: Doctor/Provider, Caregiver/Nurse, CareSeeker/Patient, and it is free to join.

Can a listed Doctor also become a CareSeek Member?

Absolutely, and it is required in order to add commentary to any reviews, their own or others'.  Doctors are encouraged to join so that they can recommend other great doctors, as well as enhance their own Member Profiles with their practice philosophies, personal interests, photos, etc., and utilize the community communication tools.  Doctors can cross-link their Member pages with their Listing pages for a full perspective of their credentials, their personal description and what others think about them.

Here are some of the things a Doctor/Member can do on CareSeek:

• Have a personal account featuring photos, friends and member messaging.

• Cross-Link his/her Member Profile and Doctor Listing page

• Host a Group and invite patients and others to participate in online discussions.

• Contribute to ongoing Forums.

• Write a personal Blog.

• Recommend colleagues

• Add Comments to existing reviews.

• Accrue CarePoints...like all the other members.

How does CareSeek handle negative reviews?

Experience shows that negative reviews seem to fall into two categories: 1) Valid concerns and issues and; 2) someone with a bad experience venting. They often are easily distinguishable and can provide the reader certain perspective on both the doctor and the reviewer.  The Comment area is supplied so that members can augment any review with their own rebuttal or point of view.

CareSeek will not tolerate untruthful or obscene reviews, or those that violate others’ privacy rights or are written with apparent malicious intent.  The “Flag As Inappropriate” tool is available to all members so that they may alert the CareSeek staff  to any problem reviews.

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About NursesRecommendDoctors.com

What is NursesRecommendDoctors?

NursesRecommendDoctors.com is an affiliate of CareSeek. In order to collect the insights of the medically trained professionals, such as nurses and clinical specialists who work every day with the doctors, we created NursesRecommendDoctors.com, where Nurses and CareGivers are offered special offers and promotions (such as Continuing Education and gift certificates to MyUniforms.com) to enhance their careers.

Who can join NursesRecommendDoctors.com?

Anyone can join, and when they do, they are joining the larger CareSeek community as well. Members choose their member type upon sign-up, and Nurse/CareGiver members are identified as such. That way, people know that these members have a professional perspective when they review care providers.

Why should Nurses Recommend Doctors?

• Patients ask nurses for recommendations all the time. This online service consolidates that knowledge and makes it available to all CareSeekers.

• Nurses know much, and now can anonymously share their insights and have a voice.

• Physician reviews help manage patient expectations.

• Outstanding doctors are recognized.

• The bar is raised promoting patient care

• Doctors benefit from qualified insight— they get feedback for improvement and are applauded for their expertise and exemplary practices.

Can Nurses and Others Get “In Trouble” for Writing Reviews?

The right to express your opinion is protected by the Freedom of Speech. Even negative comments, if truthful and not intended to harm another, provide valuable information and may be expressed freely. See Posting Guidelines for more information. Furthermore, only the member’s anonymous Screen Name is shared, and it is up to the member to disclose any personal information.

Won’t this website negatively impact the nurse/doctor relationship?

The goal of NursesRecommendDoctors is to answer the age-old question of “do you know a good doctor?”, and promote the nurses’ roles as advocates for the patients and ambassadors for the physicians.

Many nurses are proud of the doctors they work with and are anxious to share their positive perspective. Further, nurses are in the unique position of being able to spend more time with both the patient and doctor then the patient and doctor spend with each other. Therefore nurses’ insights are valuable in helping patients find the right doctor to meet their healthcare needs.

How ought nurses judge doctors?

NursesRecommendDoctors simply asks nurses to share their impressions based on their unique position and experiences. As an ongoing part of their responsibilities, nurses evaluate physician care when they evaluate the progress of the patients with whom they share responsibility.

The reviews provided in this site are meant to augment other information available to patients, such as physician training and certifications, as well as information provided through CareSeek and other affiliates. The reviews written by the nurses are just one component of the information nurses can offer.  By using the forums and community channels, nurses get avenues to share their expertise and implicitly argue for the resources they need to resolve the nursing crisis. Nurses have the opportunity to address serious issues which costs lives.

Is this site restricted to nurses or can other allied health professionals also review the doctors they work with?

Despite the name NursesRecommendDoctors, other health workers such as social workers, physical therapists, pharmacists and even other advanced providers themselves are also invited to rate advanced providers on the website.

Shouldn’t doctors also be able to rate nurses?

A website that ranked nurses would symbolize the beginning of an era where nurses were seen to provide life-saving, outcome-improving work, while promoting the concept that patients and consumers could make healthcare choices around the quality of RN care. In the future, CareSeek hopes to bring this type of information to the public so that they can make healthcare choices in this way.

Why are reviews anonymous if nurses are giving a professional opinion?