VA North Texas Health Care System

Reviews 3

C

C Marie

While the VA offers many useful services and has some skilled, helpful staff, here are some experiences Ive had. They seem to all be deeply embedded, systematic-type issues: 1) Eligibility never picks up the phone. When I drove to the VA to speak to them in person because of this and asked what the best way to reach them was, the person there literally told me not to call because "nobody ever picks up," and that if he heard the phone ringing he never picked it up. 2) I went to get some lab tests (blood work) run. When my number was called, the gentleman checking folks in loudly announced in front of the whole waiting room what tests I was getting done, and cracked a joke about them. I asked him please to not share that information with everybody. He said it again, and I said, "Sir, that is private information, you should not be saying that so loudly." He then went to the printer to get my labels, came back, and said something about my tests AGAIN. I was at a lost for words and just said "Shh!!"... the patient next to me said "Yeah, thats definitely a HIPAA violation." As the gentleman handed me my labels, I said, "sir, youll want to watch what information you say out loud to the waiting area. Some of that is very personal and private." THEN, I got my blood drawn and came back, and had decided to speak to him privately since he didnt seem to be processing it, but as he wasnt there spoke to his supervisor, who told me not to worry about it. I followed up, on a coworkers advice, by calling Patient Advocates, who brought this incident to this mans boss attention. She called, and apologized "if he offended me" and said her plan was "to sit out there and wait and see if he does it again" before acting on it. I explained to her that is was a HIPAA violation, that if she were out there it was highly unlikely he would do it, and that since it had already happened it needed to be addressed, even if it was with a brief, generalized memo to everyone reminding them not to share personal and potentially harmful information about patients where other people, especially a full waiting area of vets, could hear. Unbelievable. 3) A month after a series of lab tests, I had heard nothing by phone or mail, so I tried to call my primary care provider to ask about the results and another question I had. The first day I called, I was given two phone numbers by a patient care advocate and an operator to reach my provider. Neither worked. The second day, I was given two more, different phone numbers; again, neither worked (they all said they were not connected numbers). Frustrating. 4) This probably cannot be helped, but the first maybe 50-100 m of the entrance hallway coming in from the auxiliary parking lots smells strongly of urine. 5) I called today to make an appointment, which was marked as needing to occur "within 90 days" of the referral, which was about 40 days ago. The employee with whom I spoke set an appointment at around the 60 day mark, begrudgingly because she thought "within 90 days" meant "after 90 days." She said they would get on her for it, but she didnt care. This VA has so much apathy and a seeming lack of updated training... It has a long way to go. My veteran buddies say "whatd you expect? Its the VA," but I really believe those who have offered everything up to and including their lives for our country deserve a little more effort to be given for them. 5) Almost forgot to mention, after getting to the lab, where my provider had neglected to call in the tests I was told to take that day, and waiting an extra 45 minutes for that to get cleared up, I got blood drawn and they somehow lost it and I had to get it done again. spent 5+ hours on what should have been a 1 hour day.

LI

Linda Winslow

WAIT! I take that star back! No zero star option. The VA, it sucked and was very time consuming. My brother and I took our dad to the ER. Dad was in pretty good health until just before our visit. Hes 81 and was very independent. All the sudden he could not stand or walk. His legs seemed to abruptly stop working. Of course this did not stop him from trying. Then he was on the floor unable to get up. The ER nurse took his blood pressure, pulse and temperature. Disregarded what we said was wrong with him. Refused to do labs or give him an IV. Never even examined him. Then they sent us to see a primary care phys. but to the wrong clinic, who sent us to a different clinic. Again, no actual examination. But they did take vitals again, and sent us to the lab. Vitals were taken again in the lab, along with doing a blood draw and taking a urine specimen. Back to the "proper" clinic. Finally a doctor. This doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory and a menthol/camphor gel. Sent us to get some ex-rays, then home. Said come back in 3-4 weeks. That night he ended up on the floor, Mom called me early the next morning said he fell. I found out he spent the night on the floor next to the dining table. I called the nurse hotline because he seemed to be getting worse. . They passed a message to Dr. office with my info. No return call at all. I talked Dad into letting us take him to Baylor of Garland. The ER doctors spoke to him, found out the familys concerns. They listened to all the details. They quickly diagnosed Dad with Rhabdomyolysis, started pushing the IV fluids pretty hard, they admitted him for the night. He did get released the next day, No hes not back to 100% yet. That will take some time, but he will be better. If we had followed the advise of the VA, he would still be getting worse and chances of reversal are diminished. So.... yeah.... VA sucks.

SH

Shawn Clark

I liked the direct manner in which the staff treated everyone. If you are looking for the nice, warm bedside manner you might see your kids get when they go into the hospital then you are going to have a bad time. I also love how this place is right off the Dart blue line. This makes it a lot more simple for me to get there. 03/15/2017 Here are some pointers for those interested: Emergency Care: Fill out a check in form at the counter, give to a attendant behind the window and wait in the area for your name to be called, screamed, yelled. You wont miss it, if they say your name and nobody says anything they will really yell it... they are extremely good at not skipping people. Now, dont expect that when they first call your name that the wait is over, it has only begun - they will bring you back, do vitals, labs etc then ask you to wait back out in the waiting area. It can be a long process but its actually pretty damn short, relatively speaking. Pharmacy: Once you are in the Pharmacy/Lab area use a kiosk to sign in. At the end of the kiosk sign in process you will get a paper with a number. Go sit inside the pharmacy waiting area (not the lab waiting area) where you can hear the pharmacy staff. They will call your name and ask you about allergies, then you sit and wait until either they call your name again or your name is on one of the prescription ready screens. If your name is on the prescription ready screens, go stand in front of the "Wait here until we call you over" sign. As far as I could tell, the number was a receipt to prove that you signed in but the staff never referred to it.