OMG, I hate most of the Peds office, but love the docs!

berryblondeboys · Jan 9th, 2008, 01:58 PM

I have been going for the last 4 years to an old established doctor's office. There are 5 doctors ALL with TONS of practice (all in their late fifties and early 60s) and they are PHENOMENAL. They are affiliated with hospitals, teach and just LOVE what they do. They keep up with new research, but of the decades of experience behind them to make great doctors.

However, everything else about this office SUCKS. First, the biggest problem is it's the wife of one of the doctors that runs the front office. She's just old... behind the times... Their voice mail system takes FIVE MINUTES just to hear what to do to make an appt. Is n't that the main reason people call? They basically have this LONG message made by grandma with awkward pauses reading, if you want this, call this. If you want that, call that. My favorite, "If you need after hours advice, there will be a $22 charge and your insurance will not pay for it. You may want to call your insurance company for their advice nurse for after hours advice." Finally, you get to the "our office is closed for lunch between 12 and 1:30 pm, please leave a message for an appt. or question and we will get back to you. PLEASE GET UPDATED FOLKS!!! There is no "press this," or press this" for different services, just this long monologue to listen through to hear the one thing you want to hear! UGH!!!

Then... when you go, you have to wait forever... WHY do they put you in waiting rooms for 30 minutes? Why, when you come in for an appt. and they KNOW they are running 2 hours behind, don't they TELL YOU so you can come back later?

And just now it took me 15 minutes of searching online to find their phone number. They give out no business cards or appt. reminder cards (no phone calls beforehand either). I looked under each doctor's name and got their address but no phone number and the office is just "Office of Dr's A, B, C, D and E." Nothing... So if it were an emergency and I didn't have the number handy, there's no web page or even an easy marker to find online. UGH!!!

I've about changed SOOOO many times because I'm so frustrated with how the office is run, but the doctors are SOOOOOO good (minus one I never make appts. with). I keep asking, What's better? A great doctor or a good front staff? Ugh....

This isnt' the first time we've run across shoddy front staff either. Too low of pay would be my guess, but it's so frustrating!

kimberf · Jan 10th, 2008, 01:44 AM

I had the same sort of problems at the high-risk Ob clinic I started at. It's part of a major University children's hospital, and they're very busy.

It takes forever to get someone to answer the phone to make an appt. If you leave a message with someone, half the time they don't call back (genetic counseling and heart center both did this to me.) If I called the high-risk nurse line, no one ever answered live, and I wouldn't get a call back for 6 hours or so. And forget reminder phonecalls.

When I'd get there for my appt., I'd have to sign in, wait to be called to check in and get my urine sample cup, then go back and wait to be called for my appt., then when I came out, sign in again just to check out and make my next appt.

The waiting room would be so packed I'd sometimes have to struggle for a seat. Last week waiting for an ultrasound (I still go there for some stuff), I ended up sitting on the floor in the hall because the waiting room was full.

And most of the time I'd be seen about 45 min to an hour after my appointment time.

However, the doctors are great, with one being very well known for auto-immune work, which is what made me high-risk in the first place. I never had any questions about the quality of the actual medical care, it's just everything else about the office.

I was really torn about it, but I switched out for most of my stuff. I go to an Ob who's still affiliated with the hospital, but is in private practice, and I had him recommend a pediatric cardiologist in private practice as well. I am SO GLAD I switched. It's like night and day, and the appointments are so much less stressful for me. I can get in touch with someone when I call. I can make appointments easily. I can get a seat in the waiting room, and I'm rarely seen late, or if so a much more acceptable 20 minutes or so. For me, it is so worth it going to someone that may not be the super-specialist guy, but is still widely known to be a great doctor, in order to not have it be part of an overall miserable experience...

Jan 9th, 2008, 01:58 PM	#1
berryblondeboys Member Location: VA (DC Burbs)	OMG, I hate most of the Peds office, but love the docs! I have been going for the last 4 years to an old established doctor's office. There are 5 doctors ALL with TONS of practice (all in their late fifties and early 60s) and they are PHENOMENAL. They are affiliated with hospitals, teach and just LOVE what they do. They keep up with new research, but of the decades of experience behind them to make great doctors. However, everything else about this office SUCKS. First, the biggest problem is it's the wife of one of the doctors that runs the front office. She's just old... behind the times... Their voice mail system takes FIVE MINUTES just to hear what to do to make an appt. Is n't that the main reason people call? They basically have this LONG message made by grandma with awkward pauses reading, if you want this, call this. If you want that, call that. My favorite, "If you need after hours advice, there will be a $22 charge and your insurance will not pay for it. You may want to call your insurance company for their advice nurse for after hours advice." Finally, you get to the "our office is closed for lunch between 12 and 1:30 pm, please leave a message for an appt. or question and we will get back to you. PLEASE GET UPDATED FOLKS!!! There is no "press this," or press this" for different services, just this long monologue to listen through to hear the one thing you want to hear! UGH!!! Then... when you go, you have to wait forever... WHY do they put you in waiting rooms for 30 minutes? Why, when you come in for an appt. and they KNOW they are running 2 hours behind, don't they TELL YOU so you can come back later? And just now it took me 15 minutes of searching online to find their phone number. They give out no business cards or appt. reminder cards (no phone calls beforehand either). I looked under each doctor's name and got their address but no phone number and the office is just "Office of Dr's A, B, C, D and E." Nothing... So if it were an emergency and I didn't have the number handy, there's no web page or even an easy marker to find online. UGH!!! I've about changed SOOOO many times because I'm so frustrated with how the office is run, but the doctors are SOOOOOO good (minus one I never make appts. with). I keep asking, What's better? A great doctor or a good front staff? Ugh.... This isnt' the first time we've run across shoddy front staff either. Too low of pay would be my guess, but it's so frustrating!

Jan 10th, 2008, 01:44 AM	#2
kimberf Member Location: California	Re: OMG, I hate most of the Peds office, but love the docs! I had the same sort of problems at the high-risk Ob clinic I started at. It's part of a major University children's hospital, and they're very busy. It takes forever to get someone to answer the phone to make an appt. If you leave a message with someone, half the time they don't call back (genetic counseling and heart center both did this to me.) If I called the high-risk nurse line, no one ever answered live, and I wouldn't get a call back for 6 hours or so. And forget reminder phonecalls. When I'd get there for my appt., I'd have to sign in, wait to be called to check in and get my urine sample cup, then go back and wait to be called for my appt., then when I came out, sign in again just to check out and make my next appt. The waiting room would be so packed I'd sometimes have to struggle for a seat. Last week waiting for an ultrasound (I still go there for some stuff), I ended up sitting on the floor in the hall because the waiting room was full. And most of the time I'd be seen about 45 min to an hour after my appointment time. However, the doctors are great, with one being very well known for auto-immune work, which is what made me high-risk in the first place. I never had any questions about the quality of the actual medical care, it's just everything else about the office. I was really torn about it, but I switched out for most of my stuff. I go to an Ob who's still affiliated with the hospital, but is in private practice, and I had him recommend a pediatric cardiologist in private practice as well. I am SO GLAD I switched. It's like night and day, and the appointments are so much less stressful for me. I can get in touch with someone when I call. I can make appointments easily. I can get a seat in the waiting room, and I'm rarely seen late, or if so a much more acceptable 20 minutes or so. For me, it is so worth it going to someone that may not be the super-specialist guy, but is still widely known to be a great doctor, in order to not have it be part of an overall miserable experience...