Edited neuro review
Being a senior citizen in my 70s, and a registered nurse, it is heartbreaking to see what medical care has become in this country. I am a proponent of Medicare for all.
That being said, we must go to certain offices for specialties when we have a health condition.
This review is of our very first experience with Las Vegas Neurology Center.
My husband had a brain stem stroke in January and we realized that because our current neurologist was leaving the practice, we needed to sign up with another office.
He was in ICU and intermediate care at UMC.
Now that he is in rehabilitation, we got an appointment so that he can have a regular neurologist for follow ups.
I am old enough to recall physicians who would come to your home, or spend a lot of time discussing a problem with every single patient they see.
The great thing is there is a large parking lot behind the building and there is a wide driveway for my husband's medical van to come and drop him off at the lobby of 2020 Wellness Way.
The practice is on the third floor very easy to find.
The people at the front desk were very helpful for our 9 o'clock appointment. It seemed like as soon as one person left the desk the staff member was attentive to the next person immediately. There are six stations at the front desk. It's busy.
The staff are able to accommodate a number of different languages. The people and the appointments seem to move along smoothly and we were called in pretty much on time. It was about 9:05.
We were escorted to an exam room for Dr. Mahajan. The medical assistant, Taylor, who assisted us was wonderful, answered our questions, and she was very knowledgeable and kind. She explained what we could expect from our visit.
We waited for a bit until Dr. Mahajan and his historian April came into the room to speak with us. It was not very long. You can hear from the exam room when the doors is closed at the office is extremely busy.
We had a basic neurological evaluation so that Dr. Mahajan could develop an initial plan of treatment. Because my husband is recuperating very well in a rehabilitation at Saint Joseph's, he has made strides so that he can look forward to walking independently soon and being able to eat regular food and leave the feeding tube behind. The medical assistant followed up with a test on an iPad for my husband, so that further evaluation could be made.
We were given prescriptions for laboratory work and were told that the diagnostic testing which was being recommended would be scheduled and we were given a choice of where to go.
Checkout was easy because of course the office had sent us a text message in advance to do the early check-in and provide all of our details, including my husband's ID and insurance information.
This office does accept Medicare about which we are happy.
On the subject of reviews that address how busy and offices and how communication can often be problematic in terms of returning calls and can see that people get dissatisfied with the running of a large office, as a registered nurse I do see the transition from the old days of medical practice to the modern business model as being tough for lay people to understand.
Ever since we moved to Las Vegas, any specialty visit is always initiated with an interview with a specialist and then follow up appointments with the physician assistant or nurse practitioner.
I am a huge fan of phyician assistants and nurse practitioners who have a good deal of education and have caring hearts. I have seen them both perform so well in the clinical area when caring for my elderly mother overtime. It is to be expected that when a popular specialist has to see multiple patients every day that the delegation of care is going to occur.
My husband and I have always been able to forge a positive relationship with our caregivers and we enjoy the respect and the love we receive from his current nursing facility. More to come later on my review for them.Our world has been turned upside down since January and being a caregiver has not been easy at all. The tendency to be impatient and critical is always at the surface when I have old world expectations and I want to see the best care for loved ones.
I must say that I would never go to an HCA hospital because I have worked for the HCA corporation in the 90s and I have an ongoing distaste for them.
This practice is affiliated with HCA hospitals however, one of the neurologist here does go to UMC as an attending physician. Dr. Mahajan took time to explain to us that our relationship can work with regard to our using UMC , which is the only hospital I as an RN would use in the city.
Since his practice has this link with UMC , we are going forward and having diagnostic testing and labs done. We have a follow up with a nurse practitioner in November, which seems to be sufficient because my husband is doing really well in physical therapy and speech therapy at this time at Saint Joseph's.
On the subject of expectations:
The old habit of placing a physician on a pedestal and having unrealistic expectations is still among us as long as patients do not realize that they live 24 hours in their own bodies and Dr. only sees them for a brief period. As a nurse, I have always educated my patients to get as much information as they can about nutrition, preventive health, and in general, living healthy. The doctor and the nurse practitioner, and the physician assistant can guide us, of course.
Iam excited to meet with a younger team who are technologically adept, who have connections to other specialists and ideas.
I was able to discuss that in following an optometrist on TikTok based in British Columbia, who has done studies on using special glasses for people with depth, perception issues, such as my husband has (his stroke, affects him with severe vertigo and with the possibility of choking and aspiration pneumonia. His stroke does not involve weakness on the left or right side.) I have worked as a registered nurse for over 50 years and I am extremely familiar having done clinical research at the national Institute of health myself. I sincerely appreciate a discussion with someone who is not dismissive of my comments and truly that meant a lot.
Who can name an old school physician who will discuss research with a registered nurse never mind one who is following a Dr. on Tik Tok. Dr. Mahajan helped us with the pathway to getting an ophthalmologist to help.
I can recommend to people that it's always good to go with an advocate to one of these offices so that you can have a direction to your discussion in terms of follow up and your expectations. If you can bring a health professional all the better.
My experience as a senior RN with ridiculously high expectations was that this visit was extremely positive.
Always connect on a personal level with the people who are going to be caring for you. In this office that seems to be an easy thing to do because people seem receptive to the patients and want to help us. If they become busy and overworked why not reach a compromise and keep your relationship positive with them.
Michael M. | May 17, 2024
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