I've been one of Dr. Paul Kim's patients for about 4 years. During that time, I have seen him on 3 occasions, as I primarily prefer to see his Physician's Assistant Dan Heany. I usually see PA Heany or Dr. Kim in the Pleasant Hill Wellness office, but sometimes I go to their Walnut Creek office.
Each time that I have seen Dr. Kim my patient experience has been either downright unpleasant or best case scenario with him is I have come away feeling dissatisfied with the content of the information I was given about my health or with his poor manner.
Before I go further and say why my experiences with Dr. Kim have been poor, let me first say that the nurses, interns, attendants, and Dan Heany are all quite wonderful! Every time I visit, the nurses and EVEN the INTERN demonstrate professionalism, politeness, prompt service, a caring attitude, and compassion when patients are in distress.
Dr. Kim's manner, attitude, and comportment stand in stark contrast -- in a bad way -- to that of the rest of the professionals in his office.
1. Generally speaking, my experience has been that he's come across as a poor listener. In his initial assessments, he seems to latch on to one or two phrases/ideas and run with them, but fails to grasp or pay attention to other critical information that a patient might be giving. It's almost as if he has a short attention span and only pays attention to the info that fits within the first 20-30 secs. This is supposed to be a key component of a doctor's toolkit, in my understanding at least....it speaks to how well they are able to assess your condition. Granted I've seen him only 3 times (on purpose!) but each time I've come away feeling that he probably missed a good 50%-60% of the relevant information I was giving him. Scary.
2. The thing that bothers me even more, however, is that he comes off as lacking compassion. Even my wife, who is very patient and an emotive person, has commented he doesn't come across as really caring about me as a patient. For example, I was recently in to see him twice within a three day span because I was experiencing a very high degree of acute, debilitating lower back and flank pain...having conducted tests, we and Dr. kim think this was likely caused by a kidney stone. And, kidney stones are known to cause pain on par with that of broken bones and yes, childbirth. Anyway, upon seeing me in such pain, he made no expression of compassion or care. In fact, his intern and reception waaaay surpassed him in that area! Not only that, but when asked to call in my pain med prescription to a local pharmacy, his response was that he couldn't have his staff do that because it was after hours/past 5pm. Mind you, the time was about 5:05pm. He said this, even when he had a patient that was in clear, debilitating pain to the point of having trouble walking! With that attitude, why become a doctor -- one who is tasked with giving care to people in need to medical attention-- if you aren't willing to display that you really care about your patients and you aren't 100% committed to giving them the highest standard of care? To me,that's kind of like choosing to become a cook when you don't like cooking or food in general.
Other exhibits of poor behavior include:
3. Clearly more interested in getting you out the door than spending more than 5-10 minutes with a patient. Each time I've seen him, he has rushed me in/out as quickly as possible. This after routinely waiting and waiting, sometimes more than 30-45 minutes to see him...this last time, he even talked to me with the door open -- he was opening the door about to rush out as he was talking to me about my condition. I even had to ask him to close the door as he was clearly still talking about my medical info and didn't quite have the proper regard for my privacy.
4. Doesn't brother to explain the medications he recommends, nor why he recommends them, nor what would be the expected positive/side effects.
5. In my follow up visit (the second one in three days), he concerned himself only with the fact my condition seemed to have resolved itself because the pain went away. I even asked if we shouldn't be more concerned given the level of pain, the location, and the fact that I have never experienced anything like this before. His response was to say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and order more tests in 1-2 months. My thoughts? In a word -- Wow. Not good.
6. Another thing that isn't so much about Dr. Kim as it is about the facility is: some of the patient waiting rooms have thin walls! The last time I was there (just a few days ago), I could hear very clearly Dr. Kim's conversation with another patient...including the medical problems that patient was experiencing. Not that I wanted to...but I couldn't avoid overhearing since the walls were so thin. Who wants others to be listening in on their personal health issues?
So, needless to say, I'd have a new Dr. if it weren't for the staff and PA. read more
