Patient
We walked away from the appointment We don't plan to come back to Northside Heart My mom visited Dr. Chen as a new patient. Our first experience is that the practice has several inefficient and/or incompetent employees, and not patient-focused. No Appointment Confirmation Was Sent We called to make an appointment and was told that Northside Heart does not send either text or email for appointment confirmation. Getting a text or email of schedule confirmation is very helpful for patients to track appointment time and not miss the appointment, especially for older patients. Coincidentally, while we were at the waiting room, an older lady came in, and was told that her appointment was as 9:30 a.m. that morning, and she had to make a new appointment. This is year 2022. A medical practice that does not send schedule confirmation is not patient-focused. Unreasonable Long Wait Time We had a 2 p.m. appointment and arrived around 1:40 p.m. There was one person in the waiting area. We were called in to the exam room at 2:40 p.m. During the one hour wait, there were more than 10 people who were called in ahead of us. Unless all the people had appointment times before 2 p.m., there is no reasonable explanation for them to get in ahead of us. Incompetent Med-Tect The first med-tect measured my mom's blood pressure incorrently by more than 20 mmHg. This med-tect does not seem be able to properly operation the older blood pressure monitor that uses a squeeze ball. A nurse did not bring relevant paperwork to the exam room We filled out all the paperwork, including the medication list, and submitted to the front desk person. The nurse who came to the exam room did not bring the relevant paperwork with her; which is a symptom of her operational inefficiency of Northside Heart. Dr. Chen was not prepared before coming into the exam room Dr. Chen did not appear to be prepared before coming into the exam room. He spent a significant amount of time reading the medical chart. He then asked us about my mom's cholesterol level. The nurse had entered my mom's cholesterol test results into Northside Heart's medical record system, and written the results on paper. Dr. Chen appeared to have not read the medical record, the nurse's hand written notes, or talked to the nurse before coming into the exam room. Dr. Chen was not informative or consultative. My mom's primary doctor referred my mom to Dr. Chen due to a specific symptom. Dr. Chen did not discuss the treatment or diagnostic options. He ordered some tests and said see you in a month; without explaining about the tests (what and why). The medical staff was not knowledgeable and/or informative We tried to get some basic information about the tests. The front-office staff and 2 other medical staff members where not able to give us any basic information about the tests. We were told multiple times that they will explain the procedure to you when you are at the appointment for the tests. Given our accumulated experience from making an appointment (without confirmation) and checking out (without information), we walked away without making any future appointments with Northside Heart.