Beware UNOVA clinic
 

Well, I had a terrible experience at this place yesterday and thought I should pass it on. I had used the emergency care last year and it was great, but the clinic was not.

I have bad knees, one of which has had minor surgery 8 years ago. But it has been a mess for about a year so I finally decided to see someone about it. A friend highly Dr.Kerina as a guy who was great with dancers, so I made an appt. Check in was easy, but then I waited for 45 minutes before being taking back for vitals and xrays, which took 15. So now I’ve been there an hour, and the nurse had told me they were running about a half hour late because the doc had “taken a call” that morning. Ok, I figured that kind of stuff happens, i’ll give them a pass this time. So now they put me in a room that seems to be just a waiting room/office. I sit there for another 30 minutes. Finally, they move me to an examination room directly across the hall, and tell me the doc will be there soon. I wait another 20 minutes and the nurse comes to apologize and tell me that the doc really will be there soon. So now I hit 2 hours and 15 minutes of being in this place and still no doc. I decide to leave and go to the check out area where 3 women are just killing time waiting for a patient to come through. When I told them how long I had been waiting, they were horrified and offered to go talk to the doc, but at that point I was DONE. I told them they had better not charge me for this and left.

I’m surprised I haven’t gotten a phone call from anyoneto apologize, and especially from the doc. If he really had cared, he would have called me with the results of my X-ray.

I hope this helps someone to avoid this place. I will post updates if I ever hear from them.


Please see UPDATED post below.

I get your frustration but with 2.5 hrs in I probably would have just stuck it out a bit longer. I hear Dr. Kerina is one of the best around here and he likely has a lot of patients trying to see him. I waited for my family Dr 1.5 hrs yesterday. I have a specialist Dr. that I can always bet on waiting at least 2 hrs and once had to wait 4! With it getting more and more crowded around here I fear the wait times will just keep getting longer. Don't count on the Dr. calling to apologize, he's likely too busy with all his other patients.

I have not experienced problems like these. If I did, I would probably find another doctor, if possible. An appointment is an appointment, and it should be honored, unless there is a real emergency. Just being busy is not an emergency.

Beware UNIVA clinic
 

Well, as a NEW patient, you would have thought he’d try to make a good impression. And in my opinion, you should never have to wait more than 30 minutes unless there is an emergency. This is just poor scheduling practices.

Another thing that upset me is that there was NO ONE in the waiting room and only a few cars (probably staff’s) in the parking lot when I left. I’m thinking he decided to take a lunch break. Never mind that I was sitting there cold and hungry. I had heard he was good, too. Which is why I went there.

A few years ago I was seeing a local pain dr. I was doing the series of 3 shots to the lower back. On my 3rd visit, I had a 1st of the afternoon app't and checked in. No one else was yet in the waiting room but that soon changed. They called me back to the exam room fairly quickly and the assistant jotted my info and said "dr. will be in shortly!" I sat and waited....and waited...and waited. After about 1/2 hr. I stuck my head out and caught someone and was told "dr. got stuck in traffic,(?) he just called and he'll be here in 5 minutes...so I waited and waited some more. Finally I'd had it and went out to tell them...I was done and had been sitting there for nearly 2 hours (I'd also been fasting for the shot). It was almost like they'd forgotten me in that room. They then tried to tell me I wasn't shown on the schedule. Say what???? They'd checked me in. Anyway, very quickly I was taken into where they do the shots and it was administered. No one ever explained or apologized. I would never go back to that practice again as all 3X's I wasn't impressed with the office staff. The name of the dr. was Zhou or something like that. This was 4 1/2 yrs ago so not sure if he's still aound or not.

Seems like a pattern here....

They were worse than that at their old location.
I too walked out after 1.5 hours in the waiting room. I was told at the desk that 2-3 hours (or more) was the norm.

No thanks!!

I think it not only shows poor time management, but a lack of respect for the patients. The expect US to be on time. They should be held to the same standards. Just shrugging at this and letting it continue is encouraging them not to fix it. It is rude of them to treat us this way.

The one time I went to Dr. Kerina's office some years ago, I waited a long time too.

This is not to minimize or excuse your experience in any way, because it is unacceptable. But I thought I would give some perspective from the other side. I worked in a multidisciplinary medical group for 28 years. Here’s what I experienced.

Every time reimbursements were reduced by insurers, including the government, more patients had to be seen in a time period to cover our costs for the buildings, staff, equipment, insurance, utilities, and taxes. As a healthcare provider, we faced the dilemma of properly evaluating and treating our patients under the time constraints. I found it impossible to do so, as I frequently ran over my allotted time. That meant my next patient wouldn’t be seen on time, but the alternative would be to tell the person in front of me that I had run out of time and couldn’t finish addressing their concern, or making them reschedule to finish. Completely unacceptable.

Our medical group had a policy that any patient who presented to the front desk, whether they had an appointment or not would be seen, even if their need was not urgent. And we had urgent/emergent referrals from other departments as well. Add this to a schedule that was already full from start to finish of my day, and there is no way I could be on time for every patient. Yes, there were some patients that did not require the full allotment of time, but they were few and far between. As were no-shows, but they did help get us closer to on-time.

At the end of the day, we usually had seen double the number of patients normally scheduled for a full day. Lunch was usually a few bites between the last morning patient and the first afternoon patient.

When I had a patient complain about the wait, I certainly apologized because I know they had a life outside our offices that was being affected. But I always wondered what they think we were doing back there. Feet up, drinking coffee, and perusing the sports pages? In our dreams.

More likely your doctor is trying to juggle taking care of patients while taking care of consultations from others and trying to navigate the immense paperwork burden insurers and governments require.

However, there are very many and maybe I would be so bold as to say, most seem to be able to do so with an effectiveness that is absent from the Unova group (past and present) being discussed.

To the OP, yours was an unacceptable experience.

Dr Kerina has done 2 difficult total knee replacements for me and did an outstanding job. There were some appointments where I had to wait an hour or more, but, since the move to the new clinic, I thought they/he had improved immensely on timeliness. Last time I was there, he actually saw me before my appointment time.

I am hoping your experience was an aberration, but, it is certainly understandable if you have lost confidence in the doc or his staff and go elsewhere. He is an excellent surgeon.


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These aren't valid excuses for making patients with appointments wait. It shows poor time management and/or a disregard for patients who show up on time for a scheduled appointment. Most doctors are able to stay on schedule.

Succinctly and well stated.

Well, what would you suggest? Should the practitioners not address any concerns brought up by a patient during their visit? Should they cut short their time with any patient who is in the examining room with them because of time constraints? is the Dr actually there at appointment time? Has something kept their on time arrival delayed? That then opens another gripe fest....Dr. rushed me, didn’t listen, spent time looking at his/her computer....patient might not know, realize or even care that all is logged into their chart electronically and now that takes up time. I do agree that 2 hours is way too long to wait without notification about why there is such a long delay. If such long delays are the norm, I might consider seeking a different clinic....but first I’d try to find out why constant delays occurred, especially if the physician is a good one for my care.