It’s always been tough to find a doctor, but these days finding a reliable family doctor is even harder. What’s a person who’s sick to do? You can try your luck at the emergency room or try to find a walk in clinic, or you can simply take a look at ZocDoc – a new startup site that aims to make it possible for people and doctors to connect easily once again. If you live in Canada, I’ll just point out right now that this site won’t work where you are (at the time of this writing, that is). But, if you live in certain parts of the U.S., ZocDoc can help you find a doctor and the site will even book an appointment for you. Here’s how ZocDoc works and why the site is making lots of heads turn.

Using the ZocDoc Site

The first thing that you’ll see when you visit the ZocDoc site are quick drop-down menus. These menus ask you to choose the kind of doctor you’re looking for (everything from dentist to cardiologist is available), your zip code, and the type of medical carrier that you currently have. You will then be brought to another page that lists (and here’s the cool part) available doctors, a photo of that doctor, and the time and dates that the doctor is available – a virtual appointment book will open up right before your eyes. You can then decide to narrow down your search (if you want) by choosing the type of ailment that you currently have.

After you scroll through the many doctor listings, you can then click on the appointment time that suits your schedule best. Once you click the “book appointment” tab, you will be brought to another page that asks you some general information like whether or not you’ve seen a particular doctor before and whether or not you will be using some form of insurance. From there, all you have to do is click the “book for free” tab, sign up for a free account, and you’ll be on your way to having a new doctor – simple, fast, and a lot more effective than calling up a hundred different doctors to try and find one who can help you.

Coming to More Cities Soon

Right now, ZocDoc doesn’t service all cities and towns within the U.S., but this service might very well be available in your town soon (if it’s not right now). Most larger cities have some kind of database information going already, so go ahead and try out your zip code to see what you come up with. This reviewer had no problem finding doctors of all kinds when searching for medical help in Miami, Florida. In fact, I was also given the option of seeing a simple and complete listing of doctors if I choose not to search by specialty or other options. The whole process took just a few minutes to complete and I found ZocDoc to have a friendly user interface, plenty of instruction, and it was really easy to use the site all around. There’s nothing simple about finding a new doctor usually, but this site has really filled a gap when it comes to finding and booking medical appointments. If you need a doctor, I strongly suggest giving ZocDoc a try.