Patient First - Owings Mills

Reviews 4

JI

Jill Wilson

My family and I have gone to the Owings Mills location for over 10 years for various reasons and when we were in between PCPs. The wait has gotten longer over the years, but since we have always received good care I continue to go when needed. Yesterday, I arrived at 1:30pm and was not seen by a doctor until almost 4pm. I had the misfortune of being seen my Dr. Tisha Barnett. I had been seen last December with the same symptoms and was diagnosed with bronchitis and an upper respiratory infection. At the time, the doctor prescribed a Zpack, medrol pack and Rx cough medicine w/codeine. Yesterday, Dr. Barnett told me it was viral. I had a cold and it needed to run its course. She was prescribing steroids and an inhaler. She said I didnt need antibiotics. I asked her how long is running its course since I had the symptoms for over a week and the OTC meds werent clearing things up? She told me 3 to 5 business days. Business days? I asked her why she wasnt following the same protocol as before and she said she was not going to piggy back off of another doctors treatment. This was her diagnosis and if I didnt like it I should get a PCP and establish a relationship with them. I asked her about cough medicine and she told me I didnt need a Rx with codeine she would give me guaifenesin. I told her thats what I had been taking and it wasnt helping the cough or congestion making it impossible to sleep. She said if I didnt want it she would withold it, but thats all she would prescribe. She was rude, condescending and made no sense. After 2 1/2 hours I was no better off than I was when I walked in the place. I woke up with a fever this morning after another sleepless night from congestion and a non-stop cough. Not sure how to get medical care for my bronchitis since I dont have a new patient appointment with my new PCP until February. If you have to visit this Patient First I would suggest you request to be seen by anyone but Dr. Barnett. Shes awful.

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S

S Cheely

I arrived at the clinic around 1:45pm. I was checked in and paid my copay by 1:52pm, called for and vitals completed by 1:57pm. There was no one in the waiting area. I was being moved through so quickly that I started to think my visit to Patient First looked promising. That was so not the case... I was placed in the 1st waiting room across from x-rays with the curtain left open. I could hear very unprofessional conversations all over the place like: 1. an employee on the phone with a patient and her commentary about the patient once she hung up the phone call. 2. A shout of "whats for lunch" or "whos getting food" out in the area for everyone to hear and shortly thereafter, employees walking pass with bags of food. Needless to say, I was in the exam room until 2:40pm! For over 40 minutes, no one came in to examine me. I got up and left the exam room. I couldnt take it anymore. I went to the nearest receptionist, told him I was leaving and requested that he reimburse my copayment. He asked if he should go back and talk to the doctors to see what the issue was and I declined. I would never feel comfortable having a doctor examine me after Ive had to remind them to come and do it. I went to another urgent care about 2-3 miles away where I was seen and released in about 20 minutes tops and Ive probably overstated the time! Patient First should really do better as you come off looking efficient and effective getting patients checked in and called to the exam area and all. However, nothing is efficient or effective about having a patient wait over 40 minutes to be seen and exposed to unprofessionalism when they arent feeling well. If we wanted that type of treatment, we would go to an emergency room - which you claim Patient First should be a great alternative to.

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BE

Bethany Spriggs

I brought my 3 ½ years old daughter to the Patient First in Owings Mills, MD where Tisha Barnett advised that she needed one stitch for a small wound on her hand. Aside from her unfriendly mannerism, lack of compassion, inappropriate and rude comments; Tisha performed an unethical, dangerous procedure. She expected my 3 ½ year old to hold her hand still, on her own, while she proceeded to give her a large numbing needle. Tisha did not hold her arm/hand down nor would she let me hold her. Instead, she proceeded to give her the needle aimlessly. As a natural reaction, my daughter pulled her hand away and the needle bent in half. Tisha threw her arms in the air, let out a breath of disgust and said “that’s it, I am not dealing with this, you need to take her to the Emergency Room.” I asked if a nurse could come in and help hold her arm. Tisha’s response was that she does not have enough staff to do that. She proceeded to say that typically 3 ½ year olds can hold still on their own; which I found to be puzzling. After pursuing further, she rolled her eyes and finally said she would see if she can find a nurse. Moments later, two wonderful nurses came in and enabled the procedure to be conducted. After the procedure, I asked Tisha for the X-Ray results (to ensure there was not glass in my daughters hand). Tisha’s rude and inappropriate response was “I would not have stitched her hand if there was glass in it.” Tisha Barnett was rude, uncompassionate, inappropriate and performed a procedure on a 3 ½ year old in a dangerous, unethical manner. She should not be allowed to care for children as my 3 ½ year old was traumatized from this experience.

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ST

Stephanie Harshman

Ive been to this location multiple times over the past 5 years. Normally I will call ahead to see how many people are waiting so I dont go in during high traffic times and the staff is always very polite. The PAs I have seen are very knowledgeable. Sometimes I feel their bedside manner leaves something to be desired, but I know they have a lot of people to see in a small amount of time. The med techs, x-ray technician and phlebotomists I have seen are all very competent and when I called today for a follow up with a nurse about an x-ray she was very nice and attentive. As far as the billing goes, I know there are a lot of complaints, but that isnt the fault of this location necessarily. If a code isnt put in correctly you cant blame the billing staff and there isnt much they can do to change it- they dont have access to change a code a physician has input in the system. Its unfortunate that some of these reviews only put one star because of the billing processes that the office staff cant control. They are just trying to do their job, same as the rest of us! And as far as misdiagnoses or wrong prescriptions, this is not the only place that these issues occur. Close to 100,000 people are estimated to die per year due to medical malpractice in hospitals. Mistakes happen everywhere, not just the Owings Mills Patient First. Also, the in-house pharmacy is a big plus to me! Ill keep going back to this Patient First until I am not in the area anymore!

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