Personal Comfort ?

It is very important to feel at ease and at comfort with your gynecologist/obstetrician, trust your instinct and and the rapport of the doctor. 

In Muslim countries, patients are more comfortable in discussing their pregnancy related concerns with a female gynecologist due to their socio-cultural norms. However, there will always be a reason some women might prefer one gynecologist over the other, be it their gender, personal reference or general practice rapport, there is no bias. It is the patient's and her partner's combined decision. 

Affiliations with hospitals?

A lot of doctors work at more than one clinic in many parts of the world, this is an accepted practice and works well with most of the medical networks. Thus, it is important to clarify which hospital or clinic will you be repeatedly visiting for your appointment. Do they have lab testing facilities, are they close to your residence, do they have an emergency department, are they pocket friendly, is the management helpful, do they have an online-report updating facility and last but not the least are you as a patient comfortable with sticking to this setup for the next 9 months. 

Appointment to doctor-visit time?

This is an issue that most patients face when booking an appointment with a doctor. If the waiting time for an appointment is more than 5 days, then there is very little good that it will do for you in a pregnancy journey unless you want them to refer you to a specialist or you want them to plan an elective cesarean section. Other than these issues, most women would want their queries to be dealt with head on so that their symptoms are relieved at the earliest and they can feel more at ease.

What is the cost per appointment?

Not everyone has the same budget for doctor appointments and this is nothing to be embarrassed about. Take your time looking around the options you have and stick to the one you can afford for the entire pregnancy journey compared to switching back and forth between doctors and confusing your medical history with cumbersome prescriptions signed by more than one gynecologist. The clearer your doctor is about your past medical history, the better his decision-making can be about the direction of your case. 

Location of clinic/hospital?

At the present moment, all over the world, people are facing transport issues due to the rising costs of all things combined, after the global pandemic. Not only is this a cost hazard but also a time hazard, a pregnant woman faced with an issue that warrants a doctor response most often wants a "prompt" response, having the clinic or hospital at a one hour drive does not sound like a good idea to anyone (the patient or her partner!)  

Attitude of staff at the clinic/hospital?

Most of the times, it is not practical for the doctor to be concerned with every little change in temperature, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, or heart rate of the pregnant patient and incase of worry patients usually call up the clinic, confirm their vitals with the nurse or midwife on call and this is enough for the patient to sleep in peace and later refer to the doctor for a long term treatment strategy. For this and many other reasons like language barrier, culture parallels and comfortability factor, the staff of the clinic and their behavior is very important to keep in mind while selecting a doctor.