I have been a patient of this practice for over five years and feel that I have to defend it. I was…read morefirst brought to the practice by my roommate who had used their services before. As someone comfortable operating as my own medical advocate and knowledgeable about the terminology, symptoms, and treatments, I have never had a bad experience. I have brought them asymptomatic and mostly-antibiotic-resistant (of my own making; a laboratory experiment gone wrong) strep throat, a sinus infection that presented as meningitis, and many other weird illnesses that had been incorrectly diagnosed at other venues. I always felt that I was in good hands at The NC Family Doctor because no matter what degree my medical provider had, what they had that counted was enough experience to actually get the diagnosis correct! To me, that is what matters.
It also matters that they listened and didn't argue when I mentioned that the initially prescribed (and correctly, too, for most cases of strep) antibiotics weren't going to work and I needed a different kind. They asked clarifying questions ("How did I know? What was my motivation for requesting the different antibiotic?") rather than dismissing my concern out of hand as so many other doctors did to all the other members of my lab who also came down with the same strain of strep.
I remain a loyal patient.
However, I know what I am getting myself in to and others might not. It is a teaching environment. I have had nurses-in-training administer PPD tests - with my full knowledge and consent - and as students are wont to do, they missed their target with the needle a few times. I enjoyed having the supervisor use my arm as a teaching opportunity to explain the depth needed based on my subcutaneous fat. I learned something, too!
When I went to them after being in an auto accident, there was a rad-tech-in-training and once again I agreed to allow her to work on me. Again, she made a few errors that resulted in a small amount of pain. If I was a person who took less responsibility for my choices, I might blame the practice for the minor discomfort, but I elected to be the guinea pig and I knew and own all that comes with it. It is not The NC Family Doctor's fault; in fact, I commend them for providing a learning opportunity.
I also understand that they have a first-come-first-served model for urgent care. I have brought many friends there who don't have PCPs and sat with them in the waiting room, listening to CNN Health News on loop for hours, until I thought my brain was going to explode if I heard the same sound bites just one more time. I understand that waiting is frustrating. But at the same time, the illness didn't schedule itself in advance, so this is how it works. I've waited just as long in other doctor's offices when I DID have an appointment because they were "running behind".
All in all, I'm satisfied, which is why I am still a patient.
NB: I, too, have experienced troubles with the switching of systems and incorrect entry of my data. At present, my social security number is incorrectly entered in their system, and have had to go a few rounds with tech support over the current system for distributing test results claiming my account doesn't exist (turns out you can not log in from a mobile/smart phone browser). Those are legitimate complaints, but at the same time, office administration doesn't have anything to do with correct diagnoses.
