UCSF-Mount Zion General Internal Medicine Clinic

I’ve worked at UCSF and let me just say that care on the west coast in general is a bit spotty. Compound that with out of touch managers, powerful unions, yet terrifically low paid and overworked admin staff, and maybe you shouldn’t hold it against them when the admins really can’t or simply refuse to help. What you won’t find here is a mensch, but you just hope you can make it through the red tape to be seen and treated without incident.
Perhaps we could the front desk to take down the Snoopy «working for the weekend» cartoon? But in reality a cartoon saying that they hate their working lives is just warning to get the heck out! You might be able to find a physician who will fight for you or competent admin staff, but until then you’ll be asking yourself, where is the humanity?

My husband goes here to see his Dr. And she is great. DR. SUMMERVILLE. and he always has a good outcome. I on the other hand had a horrible experience with dr. LEE. RUDE AND INCENSITIVE. He ignored my whole reason for being there. A health screeni NH for cna school. I mention some other things I wanted to discuss and he kept ignoring all my questions and concerns and only focused on one issue. He was not sensitive to his patient and treated me more like a thing rather than a person. Dr. Lee is horrible. I do love my husband’s care he gets here though. Reception ladies are great and very helpful!

I do not understand all the negativity. I have been going to UCSF General Medicine for years. I always receive the most excellent service and care that I have ever had in my life. The doctors listen, which is probably the first time I’ve not been sort of dismissed and hustled out of a doctors office. In fact, I ended up in emergency surgery after more than one doctor dismissed my symptoms at previous doctors offices. This would never happen with the doctor I see now (Daniel Null) and the doctors I’ve seen at UCSF. This is a world class teaching hospital. I feel like it is a privilage to be a patient here and it sort of makes up for the outrageous cost of living in SF. I am rent poor but l have access to the best health care in the world, and will probably live forever! Thank you UCSF and Dr. Null. You are the best.

This place is a complete joke. I have been going to ucsf for over 4 years now and it continually gets worse. I have made appointments with a specific doctor only to find out the doctor was not even in the office the day of my appointment. There was no courtesy call. I had to start all over with a brand new doctor to be shoveled down the road another 6 months of not getting any help. I have an immune disorder this office does not take seriously. Avoid like the plague!

I have a very great feeling we were going to get great service here. I took Baby Sara for her 2^nd appointment here and they gave me the peace of mind I was waiting for years to listen. It’s not important what Sara was being seen for just that I have total relief for the service we got. We were first seen by a resident M. D and then big boss came in to give us the final results. I totally recommend this medical facility to everyone. I do see alot of bad reviews but I’m just glad that we got great service !!!

I scheduled an appointment with Dr Nicholas Daniels at General Internal Medicine at Mount Zion. The appointment was an urgent follow-​up on an Emergency Room visit I made a few days earlier to discuss next steps and figure out a longer term treatment plan. My appointment was at 4:45pm and I got there at 4:40pm. I was already in the system and I didn’t need much time to check-​in. Or so I thought.
I stood in line and waited for my turn as the receptionist was arguing with patients on some prescription medicine issue. 10 minutes later, at 4:50pm, as I was introducing myself, a nurse came by and let the receptionist know that Dr Daniels was leaving. The receptionist informed her that the patient was here and she went back to communicate that to the Dr. Dr Daniels responded that he only had 5 minutes and she asked me if that was enough for a session and then asked: «Is this a quick thing?». What kind of doctor only sets 5 or 10 minutes for his patient? If I wanted a «quick thing», I would have gone to In’N’Out Burger, they sure treat their customers better than UCSF Internal Medicine!
I politely refused to see him for only 5 minutes and asked the receptionist when the next appointment was. She told me that they were booked for another month and a half! I just left. I’m looking for other facilities to get medical care; this place is a total joke.

I was originally at Davies on an HMO but left. The Dr. and staff were really just terse and unsympathetic.
Subscribed to UCSF on PPO with hopes of getting nicer, and perhaps younger PCP.
I saw said new Dr. twice in one year. Once for the new-​patient exam, and then some follow up. He was new in this practice, but he must have filled up quickly. While I was there recently, the receptionist (who is really less than helpful) was quoting callers «We’re booked up until July, you want it or not?»
On several occasions, I was relegated to the triage nurse, who repeatedly seems to have an answer for everything. «I’ve got a fever and a sore throat» got me «Take some vitamin C,» and so on.
Seems like I’m back to the concept of I’ll either be dead or cured by the time I ever get to see the Dr. again.

I saw my new primary-​care provider, who is female, yesterday. She was cool, if not cold, and was entirely insensitive to my needs and concerns.
She practiced medicine as a «one-​way street,» on which only her issues and concerns mattered. This is what a lot of the medical profession, of which I am a member [M. D.], has come to.
Her initials are N. A. Perhaps you will find her better to work with than I did.

This has to be one of the worst hospitals I have ever been to in my life–
I have been dealing with chronic pain now for over a year, and was continually made to keep coming in for ridiculous follow up appointments and only an xray– no EMG or MRI– guess they don’t think it’s relative in regards to Fibromyalgia and nerve pain-​whatever.
I also have an issue with my current General Practioner not following through on things like prescriptions for instance.
I had been taking several pain meds and was told to wean off them and then I would be able to get a prescription for Lyrica. I didn’t feel right weaning off something without a prescription written up to be filled when I was off the other medication. The Dr. told me I would be fine seeing as I still had my flexeril-​are you kidding me? After calling about 3 different times and threatening to report all of Gen Med to Member Services, I finally got a call from my Dr who denied that he didn’t want to give me a written prescription and told me I had to go BACK to Gen Med and pick up the presciption and take it to the pharmacy myself.
Well, Im not sure where this Dr went to medical school, but come to find out that the prescription he wrote was for a controlled substance and was supposed to be in triplicate, so I had to wait another whole day to see if I could pick up my medicine. In the meantime, I have been in a lot of pain and off my other meds going on 3 weeks-​Again, I had to call and hound General Medicine from the pharmacy yesterday and was told Walgreens never sent them the request! BS! I walked right back into Walgreens and got the name of the person who said they did receive the request —
Again I go home empty handed and I had to call AGAIN today to see if they had actually done their job and again, NO INFORMATION– so I had to kindly let them know the pain level I was in and with no pain meds. I finally get a call back saying they sent it to Walgreens.
Why do patients have to do the hospital’s job?
Aside from that, my Dr never bothered to call me back on any blood tests done, never got copies of the report from my PT — NOTHING!
Dr Nicholas Daniels is the worst Dr, I think I have ever seen-​he only comes through when you call 50 times and get pissed off.
I really don’t think the people at the front desk there care much either-​most are rude and treat you like you are a nuisance. I actually had a guy sigh and make heavy breathing noises when I was calling about getting ANOTHER prescription changed so my insurance would authorize the dose– Jeez, I only had to call 5 TIMES– I should be the one being impatient. He also had the nerve to tell me to use another pharmacy when it was UCSF’s fault for not updating their contact information and Walgreens had the wrong fax number! They never bothered to check that out I guess that was also my job too!
A lot of wasted time and frustration!!!

I have been looking for a dr. for over 6 mos. now, for a physical.
I found one at the UCSF Mount Zion office. Nice enough woman, however, after 35 mins of talking to me about my ailments, she sent me along with a stack of prescriptions and to schedule my next visit 6 weeks away. «What? no poking proding?» — «Yes, but 6 weeks from now after you have looked into those recommendations.» Waste of my time, waste of my money, and insulting to the medical field. Not recommended.

I went to UCSF General Internal Medicine at the insistence of my employer and co-​workers (one of whom actually made the appointment for me). Even though I had never been seen there before, they were able to accommodate me with a same day appointment. As a new patient I was asked to arrive 30 minutes prior to the scheduled appointment to complete the new patient paper work. The woman at the front desk greeted me immediately upon my arrival and had the majority of the paper work together and waiting. Once completed, I only waited 10 minutes before seeing the doctor. I saw one of their newer physician’s (he’s not listed on Unilocal yet), Dr. Andrew Bellinger. He was quite through. He listened to my concerns and began the exam. I was with the doctor for nearly an hour. I’ve rarely left a medical practice feeling as though I were in good hands (which is a sad fact indeed, since I’ve spent the last 12 years working with various medical practices).

Originally, I had a great experience with UCSF. Then I went in for a headache, was sent for tests, and thought the doctor who I’d seen (not my PCP) knew what she was doing. That is, until she sent me for an MRI, got the results, and couldn’t diagnose my migraine-​like headaches, instead saying I needed to see a specialist. I called back for this referral, got my PCP (who insisted he’d never seen me before), and was told to come in, and he’d «check me out» too, but also, I could go to the Headache Clinic like the original doctor had recommended. I figured both sounded like viable options. Only I called UCSF to make an appt with him and never got a call back. And once I was seen at the Headache Clinic 6 MONTHS later (twice the Dr. went out of the country «unexpectantly»), that doctor (Nagy) told me I had classic migraines and any regular PCP should have been able to diagnose this without bloodwork and an MRI. He sent me on my way with an Rx for Imitrex and a promise that I’d see my PCP or a «regular» neurologist in the future and not waste his time. Um… I’m confused. He reviewed my file before I was even approved to make an appointment… And now he says I shouldn’t have been there in the first place? But I’ve digressed.
Then, a few weeks ago, I called Internal Medicine to see my primary care re: a swollen, inflamed, dime-​sized bump on my elbow. I was told my pcp wasn’t available for awhile, but I could see Dr. Null. Again, I’ve only ever seen my PCP doc once. ONCE! But OK. I arrive on Monday for my appointment, 15 minutes early. I check in, get my blood pressure checked, and sit in the waiting room, being told it should be just a few minutes before I see the doctor. An HOUR and a HALF later, I see the doctor for a full 75 seconds. I need a referral; this isn’t his area of expertise, here’s a piece of paper, good-​bye. Now I’ll have to wait to see another doctor downstairs in 3 weeks.

I used to like this place, but recently every interaction has gotten worse and worse.
So a few years ago, I’d go, and I’d see one of two doctors. The staff was friendly and everything was fine. Then I lose my insurance, but am otherwise healthy, so I skip my yearly physicals.
I try to make a new appointment after I get a new health plan, and my old file has been ‘filed’ because «it has been 3 years since your last appt.» Looking back though, it couldn’t have been more than 2. Anyways, the info is still there somewhere right? The checkup is otherwise fine.
Then I want to figure out what shots and malaria meds I need for a trip to Thailand. I make an appt and all they do is give me a Tetanus-​Diptheria-​Pertussis shot that I got a few years ago.
So I give up and go to make an appt at the travel clinic in the civic center, but they need my immunization history. I call, and they say they need a few days to get that, and that I can pick it up when they call, but it will definitely be ready by my appt at the clinic the following weds. I get a call on friday at like 5 saying they only have one shot for me (the one mentioned above. I inform them I have had many shots there, including both Hep A and B. The lady doesnt believe me, and not only won’t she go to the archives to get my old file, but she thinks that it’s easier to have me take more time off work to get blood drawn to check for immunity. But she of course needs a doctors approval. That comes on monday, and I get poked that afternoon. All the while they say everything will be ready by my wednesday afternoon appt. No call tuesday or wednesday. I call on the bus to my appt at the clinic, and they still don’t have all the results.
I dread having to switch doctors because it means I’ll have to try again to get them to get off their fat asses and go to the mysterious archives for my records. I’m just glad I didn’t have to deal with all this when I was sick or something.