The front desk staff was super efficient…read more
The PA was very nice.
The flow of traffic in the building is smooth.
For me, the actual doctor is where it all fell apart. After waiting AN HOUR after my scheduled appointment time, he burst into the room, no introduction, and immediately started reading off my chart about what hurt on me where. A quick pull and push on my arm, and he declared I had tendonitis. "Do you want a steroid shot or an MRI?" Then a nurse opened the door, told him he had a call, and he abruptly left. He reappeared ten minutes later asking me if I had decided on the steroid shot or the MRI, strongly suggesting I go with the steroid shot, and that I could always set-up an MRI later. I tried to ask about the growth inside my arm (which the x-ray my PCP took clearly showed), but he said "it was no big deal" and he "wasn't worried about it." I tried to ask about the success rate of a steroid shot reducing pain and he said, "I don't know, but people stop calling me so I assume they're better."* I tried to ask if a steroid shot had any side effects or would increase my anxiety/depression and he said, "there's no side effects and I don't know why anxiety or depression would be related to this." I felt like I had no option but to get the steroid shot. So he said, "Okay, great," and left the room again. A PA came in, set-up the shot, then departed. Another ten minutes later, he came back into the room, jabbed me, and asked, "How do you feel?! Better already?! Move it around! Check it out!" I moved it around. I checked it out. It felt the same. "Ahh, well, give it a week and then if you're still in pain in a month or so, let me know," he said, then left for the final time.
I was talked at. I was talked around. I was talked over. I'm not sure he ever even knew my name. Maybe he's seen people with pain like mine a hundred times, but this is my first time dealing with something like this. It would have been great to have a conversation with him, for him to have listened to me, for him to have actually looked at my xray, for him to have given me any information (he scribbled down "things to Google later" [his words] for me), for him to have had any bedside manner at all. I understand he might have been very, very busy and he probably needed to move me in and move me out as quickly as possible, but... there's still a tactful way to do that.
My dad comes here for his pain/surgeries and he *loves* his doctor; he came with me today and was appalled at the way I was treated. "Glad he's not my doctor," he said as we left.
I can't recommend or not recommend Spectrum at this time - it seems like it depends on the doctor you get, and I just happened to luck out. But I will say: it's YOUR health. And if you don't feel like you're getting the care you need or deserve, find somewhere you do feel comfortable and listened to.
*ONE MONTH LATER: I wrote the above the week of my first (and only) appointment. I decided not to post the review until a month had passed so I could see if the steroid shot worked. While less and in a different way now, my arm is still sore/achey. But I guess the doctor did get one thing right: I won't be calling him again.
