When I speak to non-healthcare consumers about their healthcare providers, I often hear about how NICE they are. As a provider, being NICE is certainly something that is important as a customer service technique, but it does not have any bearing on the outcomes as a clinical quality measure.
If you are making your healthcare provider decisions on whether the provider is nice, you have room to grow in your evaluation of your team. The internet has overviews of healthcare providers which are provided by them. They may be of value, but they are written as a customer service advertisement to recruit you as a patient.
Some other questions that might be of more value include the following:
1. Surgeon
2. Internal Medicine
3. Oncologist
These are questions that a healthcare clinician should be able to respond to based on their practice patterns. Each healthcare clinician has strengths, weakness, and interests which define their practice.
Finding the right healthcare practitioner takes work and advocacy on your part. If your primary care physician provides a referral, you do not have to comply if you are not comfortable and confident that it is the right clinician. You need to play an active role in the delivery of your care.