Good care once you are being cared for but the waits between being checked in on can be very long. I was once in the ER for 5 hours and only saw three different people.....so the wait between them were pretty long.
This kaiser is hit and miss. The pharmacy and nurses are great, most of the doctors I've dealt with have been either extremely disrespectful and rude or unknowledgeable for my situation.
I was in a motorcycle accident and left paralyzed, struggling to rehab from it. One of my home health nurses suggested a newer member there named Dr Gyorgy Pataki. I didn't know anyone there at all, and selected him as my primary. I went in to visit him a few times to introduce myself and explain what I'm going through, and he didn't seem to know much about my condition. Things started getting worse, & after a while he seemed more interested in getting me off & stopping my pain medication than actually helping me heal/get better. He had no suggestions for the multiple issues I brought up with him about my condition, and seemed to constantly "kick the can down the road" with regards to things he seemed to not know much about. He said he would confer with colleagues, but was all in all a terrible primary care physician, and I would not recommend him to anyone. I suppose he just wanted to be called doctor and get the doctor paycheck, not actually help people. If you only need one of those doctors you go to twice a year for a regular checkup, talks about drinking water and exercising a little more and says "I'll see you in 6 months", he'll be fine.
The physical medicine and rehab doctors aren't much better. Dr Yonghui Tai (spelling?) is a deplorable excuse for a physician, and doesn't deserve the right to help people with their care. In our meeting he ignored my concerns, audibly sighed when I took my phone out with a list of questions I had, and just seemed like he had somewhere else he needed to be. His behavior was so bad I wrote to whomever I could at kaiser about his disgusting treatment of a patient, and while I never heard back about anything, I hope he was spoken to about this incident. I've since been seeing Dr Scott Pinner, who is better, but seems to need to be prodded and poked and reminded to do the things he said he would do. Things are better with him helping.
The pharmacy is great, never have too many problems, I go there multiple times a month and if there's an issue with medication it can usually be resolved there in about 15-20 minutes, or if they're out of one medication I take, they give me a week supply and have the rest in a few days. The one large benefit I could see is improving the kaiser app - when you reorder medication, the pharmacy can text you when it's ready for pick up. If you reorder 6 or 7 medications like I do, you don't know which ones are ready for pickup and which ones are still pending. It'd be nice if it were combined to say "all medications are ready" or something, saving multiple trips.
All of the nurses are very nice and helpful, the wound specialist nurse Jean Tuthill & her team was also very nice helping me treat a pressure ulcer I had for far too long. All the nurses for the doctors I saw were also very nice.
The infusion area is pretty packed, I had 5 sets of iron infusions for anemia. The infusion nurses were nice, especially since I have vaso-spasms which make running IVs very difficult. They tried hard, but getting stuck 4 or 5 times trying to find an open vein wasn't very pleasant. Also, the infusion rooms were filled with at least 2 or 3 patients, making it feel very cramped. I wasn't expecting my own private room, but it was a little crowded.
The only time I had surgery here was also hit and miss, the surgery itself was fine and the ER nurses were very nice. However, the recovery was not done very well...it's absolutely unacceptable that the hospital can't get my medications correct (what I take, how much I take, and when I take it) even after telling multiple nurses multiple times the details. I'm glad I brought some of my own medication from home, because there was some that they outright didn't even give me. It was shockingly poor care.
TL;DR, pharmacy and nurses good, most doctors bad.
Kaiser wins awards for quality care but not surprisingly, they do so by keeping some patients off the books and under-reporting complications.
I had diabetes for over 20 months, shown on a laboratory test, yet I wasn't diagnosed or offered treatment. I had a history of classic symptoms that were significantly worsening. Yet, I was only incidentally diagnosed in ER, where I went 2 days in a row. At the first visit, the doctor didn't even tell me I had severe hyperglycemia, with blood sugar of 348. The 2nd day, I went back feeling even worse and the doctor attempted discharge without running labs. With a lot of begging and pleading he agreed to do some tests. My blood sugar had risen to 488. I was quite sick but nearly walked out without any sort of treatment and into a bigger crisis.
My doctors, however, never entered my diagnosis or the complications I suffered from late diagnosing into my 'problem list' -- that information stayed tucked away inside clinical notes where no one would ever even know I had diabetes unless they culled through individual reports. How scary is that?
Further, they never told me what type of diabetes I have.They didn't check my insulin or run any other tests. It took getting out of Kaiser to learn I have autoimmune diabetes.
The DMHC confirmed my case is definitely one that did not get counted when tabulating results for awards. I have no doubt there are many more patients like me.
They also refused to image a severe hamstring avulsion for over 3 months, which will impact the function of my leg for the rest of my life. Because a hamstring avulsion needs surgical repair in the first 4 weeks for optimal outcome, and they missed that window, they initially misrepresented the severity of the injury and didn't come right out and tell me I had an avulsion. There is now scar tissue all over my sciatic nerve and the muscle and tendon are seriously retracted down my thigh.
And, beware if you complain. First off, their grievance department will lie to you in a heartbeat ----- after all, you might fall for it and go away. Secondly, when you complain about a doctor, they will all start to work together to cover up any errors. You become 'the bad guy' instead. They never apologize for their negligence. They're too arrogant. Camaraderie is far more important than patient safety and when you peel back the layers, you find their culture is nothing short of psychosocial.
Healthcare is a mess -- the incentives are all wrong. There is no incentive to cure disease. Kaiser doctors are incentivized to save money. In contrast, outside of integrative care doctors are incentivized to spend more. Either way the patient is only a commodity.
Kaiser employees have told me their regional managers are synonymous with fire breathing dragons. If you catch your doctor at the wrong time, when their numbers are too high, you'll pay the price by not getting what you need so your doctor can stay on their bonus track and not have the dragon breathe fire down their back.
The good news? No matter how sick you are, everyone thrives at Kaiser, at least on paper.
At the Pharmacy, staff went out of their way to get prescription renewals I needed. An Advice nurse helped me find a good doctor, and I had an appointment in less than a week The staff at my appointment were very helpful and kind to me. I had no waiting time to see the Dr. I am very impressed.
We love Kaiser! They have great doctors and seem very efficient and thorough, while still providing a high level of care. We've never been happier with our medical providers.
We were in the ICU department, for almost two weeks 24 hours watching our relative, unfortunately in the place where you least want to find those aggressive and bad-tempered people is in the hospital and less in such a delicate situation, the nurse Beatrice is a person Aggressive and regardless of the patient's care he started to discuss. one of the nurses came to apologize for the behavior of her. BEATRICE said she has 11 years of experience but she just kept her nurse certificate posted on the wall because she does not have the ability to be in such an important department as ICU, did not even know how much time the patient had with his medicines and less what had happened the night before, I do not know if the report was not given well or She just does not know how to listen and Putting the attention you need in your work, in the Kaiser tutors says please "keep quiet, because our patients need time to recover" Nurse BEATRICE does not know what that means, She does not have an education about how to treat people. Why she is working like a RN?
One observation I do not know if it is possible to offer coffee at night for relatives even if it is a cup of coffee on the night shift.
The cafeteria employees are attentive, I had the displeasure of knowing the boss of the cafeteria named Greg and what a bad luck that the cafeteria boss himself has a bad mood to treat his customers with such a bad character when he has to give better service to your customers.
Kaiser San Rafael Medical Center is Amazing!! EXCELLENT CARE!! Thank you for being there!!
Trying to find a friend admitted a few days ago, talk to reception, she has no info, sends me to Admitting who without even listening to me sends me back to reception, who sends me back to admitting who I ask NOT to transfer me until he answers my question, AND THEN HE IS RUDE TO ME, HANGS UP ON ME, and I still haven't got through to my friend. WHY I HATE KAISER AMONG OTHER REASONS.
A hospital is a hospital.
#OneTwenty15Media #Combinations
Dr Guerry at ENT always on time, efficient, professional and courteous. Doesn't get any better
Although the pharmacy is busy, the staff works hard and is very pleasant. The pharmacists are very Knowledgeable and helpful
I love my neurologist he is a good friend who cares about me. I am disappointed because the public transit system changed.
I have had a twist in My Colon for years. I had 2 doctors attempt to untwist it. No one could seem to do it. Then I moved to San Rafael and Dr. MacDoland my Gastroenterologist not only got the twist out but I have been very sick the past month and he calls me at work to check on my Colon, Refers me to Surgery and X-ray with no problems and is the most generous(With time) doctor I have ever had. I have been seeing doctors for 30 years for my Colon and he is by far the BEST. If you're looking for a GREAT Gatro Doc, He's the man!!!!
Sue Haluska in post-surgery is a top notch nurse. I give her 5 stars! She is caring, understanding and non-judgemental with patients and their family members and she really knows how to advocate for her patients.
Call nurse was instantly available, efficient, and booked an appointment same day for me. Her advices are pertinent and helpful, standardized.
Excellent doctors, nurses, administrative staff.
Randy who works in the pharmacy is positively the best pharmacy staff I have ever had the pleasure to work with. He is ALWAYS happy to help out in the most unusual circumstances., with a smile.
4 stars because they haven't finished whatever project they are working on in the parking lot for a year now, their service is top of the line. Doctors are nice and attentive.
Excellent, kind & considerate, unruffleable counter staff.
Horrible care in ICU horrible hospitality for visitors too. The worst kiaser my boyfriend has ever went to and we have been to several oakland kiaser is by far the nicest and best staff i have seen yet.
I am absolutely appalled sitting in the waiting room of Orthopedic and seeing hiw filthy the chairs are. Surely a clean environment would be most important in a medical centre.
We thank our lucky stars we are with Kaiser. Superb Medical Staff...from Xray to Ortho, Primary Care Dr are tremendous. Loved Podiatry - esp. Dr. Elmi...Even the Colonscopy with Dr Vohra was not bad...An early morning ER visit was seamless- had attentive / great Drs. Doc for a Day may not be the best strategy...
The Pharmacy in the "outer" San Rafael Location is filled with some of the most patient, kind, accommodating individuals. Once again I was "wowed" by the level of courtesy. Five big Bright Stars.
Dr.Elizabeth Olle is a super star doctor - very smart and very compassionate. She listens well and is a wonderful source of information.
Kaiser is a very good hospital, and we receive great service there.
An amazing facility with exceptional attention to cleanliness and the separation between infected and those either just there for checkups or whos issue is non-respiratory. It has a wealth of experts, diagnostic equipment, and other medical necessities capable of all your medical needs. Pre-COVID ICU (I haven't been to ICU in ~2 years) has extremely receptive staff that quickly and accurately conduct medical treatment. Overall the staff are extremely kind, caring, and proficient.
After I got shot, I came here and they fixed it right up and I m all good now! Thanks Kaiser
This review pertains to Anoosheh Nikkar, Physicians Assistant par excellence. Not only is Nikkar extremely bright with impressive credentials, she is compassionate and insightful.
My broken knee rendered me helpless and anxious. I appeared at each appointment with a list of questions...she was patient, kind, and has a great sense of humor. I had/ have such respect for her diligence, insight and professionalism.
I consider myself very fortunate to have been under her care.
I love Kaiser. I recently had to go into the UC medical system and it was mid evil in comparison to the facility we enjoy in San Rafael.
I love that Kaiser prescribes vitamins for some of my health issues rather than drugs and I also love how quickly they respond to any of my issues.
The psychiatric department is excellent!! Doctors Hedin and Jones are some of the best practitioners I've ever experienced. I've struggled with lifelong mental health issues that those two have helped me manage in ways that I find comfortable and successful...and without Psyche Meds!
The classes and groups are helpful and everything is all about the convenience of the patient!
Called Kaiser to confirm the whereabouts of an immediate family member suffering from a post- partum psychiatric emergency. They fed me all this BS about protecting her legal rights and patient confidentiality, only to find out that the doctor she had an appointment with called out sick, and she was sent away without treatment. Are you kidding me? Kaiser was more concerned with the patient confidentiality than giving actual medical treatment. Make it right Kaiser. Huge medical facilities billions of dollars and you're turning people away. Every staff member contributes to this. Make it right.
Tisha on the phone, ghetto and rude! You would think making a phone appt. Would be more simple. You would also think Marin County would provide a better experience but nope.
