Santangelo Kristin J, MD

A great doctor but the wait time is ridiculous. Plan to wait for a long, long
time to see the doctor and that’s for a regular appt. Have an emergency?
You will be there for hours.

Returning on a Thursday from vacation in Europe, I developed a serious blockage of the bladder. We arranged from Seattle for a Monday meeting with Dr. Santangelo, who did not know me and with whom I have no prior history. I was stabilized, first in Seattle, then again in Thousand Oaks ER, intending to hold out for the Monday meeting. After a serious blockage again on Sunday, and a CT SCAN, the doctor performed emergency surgery to remove a large clot formed by continuous bleeding, followed by curative surgery later that week. From the quality of her work, and her responsiveness to someone’s critical need, I can understand how an office schedule can become chaotic, frustrating patients who think their issue is the most important one on the doctor’s calendar. Unfortunate, but too bad: She sets priorities according to patient needs. The office staff appears to serve several doctors, and could use some coordination training in a busy environment. For example, I was called to reschedule an appointment because the doctor had to commit to emergency surgery — which turned out to be mine!
By my experience, she proved to have great hands, great communication, great compassion, and great judgment.

She took me in on an emergency as a new patient when I was feeling really bad. She was caring and concerned. A very good doctor!

Okay, this is a tough one, I’ve never written a negative Unilocal.so here goes… I just got home from Dr. Santagelo’s office with my 10 year old son (her patient) — it was our second appt (a follow up) Our first visit we waited an HOUR — it was ridiculous — actually we waited longer as we got there early to fill out paperwork. At no point did the front office staff say — she was running behind or do you want to reschedule. We finally saw the doctor — who was nice — her nurse is EXCELLENT as was very frustrated as well at the wait. Today, we went back, I know things happen and just figured that first visit — was just out of the ordinary etc. Well, NOT SO –just got home — after AGAIN an hour wait — finally after over 30 minutes I asked — they said, oh it will be another 20 minutes. Well we waited 20 more and it wasn’t — the nurse again was VERY FRUSTRATED as were we. My husband took off work to get my other children, i rearranged a carpool to take my son — all plans laid — and we waited and waited and waited. We finally left as we had to be somewhere else. I asked the front desk why didn’t someone call us? Why didn’t they, when we checked in say — we are running an HOUR behind? As we left the entire LOBBY WAS FULL! Again we were told, oh we had lots of emergencies today — I think what is happening is they are over booking every day and this is the norm instead of the rarity! Long story short — I will not be returning to this office. I work with doctors in my profession and this is a case of over booking at the expense of the patients — it was ridiculous —

Wrong guys. This office was excellent and friendly. And the dr very knowledgable and professional. The whole process was
smooth and easy and not rushed. Highly recommended.

I did not receive anything close to adequate care at this doctors office. I would highly recommend finding a different urologist. I had a major surgery at the end of October which included the use of a catheter. Almost immediately I felt that I had a severe bladder infection. I went to two urgent cares, and none the antibiotics helped the pain. I finally made it into Dr. Santangelo’s office after 2 weeks of bladder pain. I just assumed that a urologist would be able to eliminate the pain. I was told that it was probably cystitis, and there was nothing to do except eliminate acidic foods & drinks, and take an over the counter pill called prelief. I was also given a pill called uribel, which she said may or may not help. It did not help, but I continued to take it praying the pain would subside. The doctor told me it would take 3 – 4 weeks to clear. The following day I left the nurse a message asking if the ER could help me, and if there was anything I could do to stop the pain. I didn’t receive answers to either of the questions. I did receive a message only stating that she received my call, BUT none of my questions were answered in the voicemail. It’s kinda hard to take phone calls when you’re doubled over in pain. I continued to stay in excruciating pain for the next 4 weeks. AND I dropped 25 lbs. I went back to Dr. S for a 2^nd visit, and she said I suppose we need to look inside your bladder now. It appeared that the rapid weight loss got her attention more than the fact I was STILL in pain. Although, the pain was no longer 24/​7, but more like 85% of the time. I went to the front desk to schedule the cystoscopy, AND was told it would be 3 weeks for the next appt. Here’s the math — that would be a total of 11 weeks in pain before I was examined as I SHOULD have been initially. Thank God I found another urologist who diagnosed me on the first visit, squeezed me into the schedule, performed a cystoscopy and diagnosed me with cystitis cystica. My bladder had been badly damaged from the catheter. I watched the procedure on the monitor and could not believe how many cysts were in my bladder. I am now on my 3^rd week of macrobid, and probiotics and feeling GREAT. THE PAIN SUBSIDED WITHIN 6 DAYS OF BEING PROPERLY DIAGNOSED. One final important note … Cystitis cystica can turn into cancer.

This doctor won’t win an award for being the most personable physician but she seemed capable enough.
Her front office is atrocious! Trying to schedule a one year follow up appointment for my son, they could not find any record of his visit approx 18 mos ago. Both calls I was put on hold for 5 minutes. When the scheduler finally picked up, she ended up terminating the connection. On the second try at scheduling an appointment, I got put on hold twice during the call for extended periods. In all, it took over 30 minutes to do basic scheduling. The person also had a heavy accent and was difficult to understand. If I were doing it again, I’d look for a different provider.