The beginning of this virtual mystery did not bode well. I called the exchange and set up an appointment. Got there on time, but found no one in the office. There was a sign on the door in the waiting area that said to knock here. So I knocked. Nothing happened, so I stood there for a moment, shrug my shoulders and then sat down. Sat for about 20 minutes and it look like nobody was there. So I called The Exchange again and told them what was going on and they said they would try to get hold of somebody. Meanwhile another 15 minutes had passed. Finally, a pretty little girl stuck her head out and apologize profusely for not being able to answer the door because she was with another client. Okay, I can deal with that. I was really pissed, but,once the nurse explained situation I calmed down.
So the only real person in this particular office is a nurse, just out of school. She didnt have to tell me. She looked 11 and giggled a lot. But she was still good. The doctor themselves are virtual. In other words the nurse takes all the information, and when the doctors free they appear on the screen. All right, I'll buy in. Let's see how this works.
I came in with bronchitis and a sinus infection. I'm not new to this, but it has been a while, thank goodness. So the doc came on and ask the nurse to listen to my chest. I guess there is a speaker in her stethoscope. When she put it up to my chest, and I breathe in and out, like the doctor requested, I could hear it on the doctor side. It didn't sound very promising. So I talked to the doctor a bit. She asked me my history , my experience, and my symptoms. She proceeded to diagnose me, and told the nurse to set me up with an Albuterol treatment in the office. You put a mask on and they pump albuterol into your chest for about 10 minutes. It did a great deal for clearing up my chest. The doctor came back on and listened to my chest the same way. She laughed and said this is just amazing. technology can be phenomenal. So my chest was much better, and then we talked about treatment. Because I've had this before, I know what the standard treatment had been. She knew exactly what she was talking about. She set me up with some inhalers, some antibiotics, and some kind of steroids something for my chest. Then she called it in to my Pharmacy.
I have to say I was kind of suspect in the beginning, but after going through it I can see where a good doctor would make this easy. I could see she was doing this from inside her home, and actually she looked like she had not been up that long, or had been too busy to take the time. I'd go with the latter. It was nice because I could tell I was taking to a real person.
Ok, here are the reasons I gave a four, and that was generous, but for the nurse.
1. It seems the exchange give the nurse 30 minutes per appointment. It takes that long just to gather information. And then on top of the 30 minutes having a treatment like I had to go through, with the Albuterol, it takes it up to an hour. That means the person behind me have been waiting at least 30 minutes if not longer. There's got to be some way for the office to set up something more realistic , as to not inconvenience the nurse or the patients. Hey, here's an idea, why doesn't the exchange just call the nurse at set the appointment up with her. Acceptable time frames are set , and people know about how long they're going to have to wait. Or, I would say 45 minutes between appointments is better than 30. There's a lot of discussion that goes on between the doctor and the patient.
2. The Exchange didn't give me any information about cost. I have no insurance. It was $200 for an office visit insurance. That's a bit steep for a Urgent Care inside of Safeway. The nurse called a Urgent care in American Canyon for me. It was $150. We decided to just stay where we were. Just so you know, $200.
After all that, my visit went well. The Doc was terrific, and I got relief before i left the office. I would do this again, but to be honest, I'd probably go to American Canyon before going here. Just because of the money.
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