Please note: This review is of Dr Cheryl Ostrowski and the front desk staff. I have not met any of the other doctors at this practice.
I went here the first time because they offer same-day appointments. I was shown to Dr Cheryl Ostrowski, promptly. I told her that my temperature was 4 degrees higher than normal, with my normal being about 96.5. She was very dismissive that I knew my own regular temperature. She then asked me if I'd had a regular check-up that year and I told her that I get an annual physical for work. She told me that that wasn't good enough and that I "probably had diabetes." I was taken aback but I politely explained to her that my annual physical checks for diabetes. She argued with me that it did not. For the record, I would not be allowed to perform my job if I needed insulin injections, so, yes, they absolutely do test for diabetes as part of my annual physical, not that any of that had a single thing to do with why I was at the doctor's office that day. Dr Ostrowski then prescribed me some medicine for my fever and throat and asked me which pharmacy I'd like the prescriptions sent to. I couldn't remember, off the top of my head, which drugstore in Burke I wanted to use so she told me just to tell the front desk staff when I checked out. No problem. I looked up which drugstore I needed and told the front desk as I was leaving. My husband and I proceeded on to the pharmacy, where I asked if the prescriptions had been sent in yet. They had not. I called Burke Family Practice and asked them to please send along the prescriptions. They said they would. I checked back in with the pharmacist about 20 minutes later to see how things were going and was told they had received no prescriptions for me. I called the office again and asked them to please send along the prescriptions. I was told that the woman who normally does that was now on lunch. Keep in mind that, during all of this, I'm burning up with fever and I've got other, visible, symptoms. I said that I needed someone to send them right now. They said they'd do that. I checked in with the pharmacist again after another 20 minutes or so. They still had not received my prescriptions. I called the doctor's office again and demanded that they send the prescriptions while I was on the phone. The person who answered was relaying what I was saying to the woman who was supposed to be sending the prescriptions and I could hear her in the background complaining about how busy she was and that I should just trust that she would send them. Nope, don't trust you, sorry. Not at this point. The woman on the phone with me sounded somewhat amused, as though she and the other woman don't get along and she was enjoying watching her get angry. I finally got them to send the prescriptions during that phone call and got my medicine after an hour and a half.
I went back to this practice some time later, hoping that there'd been some staff turnover or improvement. I asked to see a different doctor and was told that I had to see Dr Ostrowski. While she wasn't as argumentative on that second visit, she was still openly dismissive to the point that she wouldn't even open her eyes when speaking to me. Due to what happened the previous time, I asked the doctor for paper prescriptions. Instead, she told me she would send them to the pharmacy, herself, which she did do. Thankfully, this minimised my interaction with the front desk staff, who still did not seem to have it together.
Never again. read more