Planned Parenthood

I’m not sure why there are so many bad reviews. I came in for an appointment today, waited for five minutes, then was able to go back to work an hour later. The nurse who assisted me was kind and polite; the electronic paperwork speeded up the entire process; and the clinician made me feel at ease. To top it off, I don’t have insurance, and the price I paid was $ 200 lower than I had been expecting!

I had an appointment scheduled for 9:00. When I arrived an obviously disgruntled receptionist took my name and checked me in. I then proceeded to sit and wait. And wait. And wait some more. After waiting for more than an hour I asked the receptionist when she thought I would be seen. She said another minute or 2 and she was right. It was then 10:20. I was weighed, asked a few questions and had my blood pressure taken. I then was put in a room and again was just waiting. It was then 11:00. I had then been there for a total of 2 hours and had yet to see a clinician. I left the room and found someone who worked at PP and asked when they thought I would be seen. At this point I was told that the Dr. Was running late and still had another patient ahead of me. I was done at this point. I went back to the reception area to reschedule. I also needed to pick up the pills I had ordered 4 days prior. I was told I couldn’t get the pills without the appointment. I was then told I could speak to someone else (probably wanted to avoid me at this point). I left with the pills I was told I couldn’t have, another appointment, a dirty look from the horrifying receptionist and a message from the other person at the desk. The message was that she can’t control the timing of what happens in the back (aren’t you the person answering the phone scheduling appointments? !) and that they are just trying to help. I don’t need that kind of help. Figure out your scheduling issues! I have a message for you Planned Parenthood. …how about if you are running 2 hours or more behind, let the patients know as they check in. That way you aren’t wasting someone’s day. Oh! And maybe check your attitude if being a receptionist is your job in life.

I have been here twice. Apart from some of the disgruntled receptionists I’ve encountered I have met two extremely nice and caring gynecologists. The wait time on my first appointment was a little over a half an hour, and my second appointment was close to two hours because they told me they were short staffed that day. But I would like to give credit to the gynecologists. Unlike my first experience with a gyno elsewhere, these gynecologists were never pushy or rude. They were very polite and answered all the questions and concerns I had in a thoughtful manner.

I started off with a very good experience. I needed an appointment with a gynecologist very fast and they were able to get me in the very next day. I arrived about 15 – 20 minutes early because I know how doctors’ offices are and was greeted by a very nice receptionist. I filled out the necessary paperwork and sat down and waited to hear my name called. And waited and waited. There was only 3 other women in the waiting room before me and it took over 30 minutes for them to be called. I’m finally called into a room and speak to a nurse for about 3 – 5 minutes she leaves and tells me the doctor will be right with me. 30 minutes later, the clinician enters, asks me if I would prefer a cream or pill for my prescription and I say cream because i can’t swallow pills and i know that the pill may not work if i have to crush it. She takes a sample and she leaves to find out the results. So I’m waiting and waiting and then another nurse enters to have me moved to another room so they can get someone else out of the waiting room. I finally get my prescription after a 2 hour doctors visit, get to the pharmacy and discover its a prescription for a pill, not a cream as I specifically stated. I call PPH to see if it’s possible to have a prescription for a cream faxed over because I have had it done at other doctors offices before and it turned into a challenge of getting the clinician and the pharmacist to speak to each other. Needless to say, I didn’t get the right prescription but I was in shock that the clinician did not apologize for her mistake. I wasted 3 hours of my time trying to get a problem fixed and in the end it didn’t get fixed.

Whoever is in charge of the appointment scheduling should be given a swift kick in the pants. I made an appointment through the call center (which you have to do), arrived at the local Planned Parenthood, filled out the paperwork and was told 25 minutes later that the person qualified to do my birth control procedure wasn’t in that day. WTF? Why would I have been scheduled for the procedure on that day? Also, why was I waiting almost half an hour just to be told to go home? That is more than a minor inconvenience. So, I rescheduled and came back for another appointment.
It took an hour an a half for the doctor to even see me.
From the room I was waiting in, I could hear her taking other patients. So frustrating.
I missed a really important meeting because what should have been a 30 – 45 minute appointment (for which I had alloted over an hour, just in case) took an unthinkable 2 hours!!! This is totally unacceptable and shows clear incompetence in management.
Planned Parenthood — you need to fix your scheduling system! Why doesn’t the call center, through which I am forced to make appointments, communicate with the individual PP facilities? Why are appointments scheduled so close together that my doctor is seeing other patients an hour after she was supposed to be seeing me? I have always been a supporter of Planned Parenthood and their mission but I was so dissapointed with my experience with PP in Connecticut I will not be back.