Had the unfortunate pleasure to sit and wait for Patrick Nolen today. I was looking to move…read moreprimary care to someone closer to home so when i received flyer in mail and read some of the reviews expectations were good.
First issue: Patient portal - you would suspect or hope it was to help speed 1st patient visit along and cut down on duplication, yea not here. On-line you fill out patient info, address, emergency contact and several pages & fields including last Dr. seen, then at the end of that 30 minute session. You get to do it ALL over again but this time on 11 page document you need to print out. Make sure an take notice, one of the last pages ask for Credit Card number, expiration date & 3 digit security code info to have on file "just in case" interesting huh....
Second issue: Customer service skills, I showed up 10 minutes early. I was greeted cordially enough, I presented the eleven pages I spent more time filling out, since this one is a little more detailed and required digging up contact names, numbers and recalling procedural info not asked on the patient portal. I begin the sit and wait process for the next 45 minutes, do I get so sorry for wait, do I get he is with someone that requires assistance, do i get would you like a glass of water, heck no. Instead at the 50 min mark beyond my scheduled appointment I now see the nurse, same nurse who has been sitting at the front desk the entire time. She will now take my BP, Oxygen level, temperature and weight then I am taken into a patient room to wait additional 15 minutes.
Finally after 65 minutes of being at their office (55 mins waiting for Dr) he walks in.
Third issue: No respect for the patient. Instead of walking in and saying "I am so sorry and apologizing" I get " so what are you here for. We begin to cover why I am there and due to his lateness I do not have time to do a full 1st visit but I am willing to come back, get blood work and other tests done. Now, he offers an apology for being late. We quickly talk about why I am there. Total face-to-face with Nolen about 20 minutes.
Now I know several of you are saying "you had the red flags" why didn't you leave. In the past I would have been gone, but now its simple. I know things can happen and Dr's can get backed-up so give some leniency. Until they cross the line, with attitude their time is more important than ours so just deal with it or you challenge their fees which can cause them to bow up. Which they are going to charge one-way or another remember you gave them access to your CC with authorization when you signed that document.
If you are seeing this guy and are happy then that is great but if you are thinking about going to see him cause you got a flyer in the mail...think about it how many Dr's have you known that have flyers in the mail.