Do you get a warm and fuzzy feeling with SG?

[Anonymous]

We are working with SG (Rockville) and while I understand that they are very good at what they do, I have been underwhelmed by their attempts to personalize the process. I keep getting this feeling that we are viewed as just another procedure and not a couple TTC -- I don't think the doctor even knows who he is seeing until he looks at the name on the file after coming into the room. Have others had a less "clinical" experience?

[Anonymous]

LOL! I never got warm fuzzy feelings with SG. Our RE was Dr. Chang but I saw many doctors for various followups. Dr. Chang was always very polite and diplomatic, but always smart and professional and never warm and fuzzy. The coldest doctor I had ever met was Dr. Browne over at Fair Oaks. I was telling her at one appt how optimistic I still was about getting preg even though I'm over 40. I told her that my acupuncturist had great success with all her clients. She retorted, "Your acupuncturist is lying or she probably has just a handful of patients because we see thousands of patients and so few over 40 get pregnant." Gee, thanks alot Dr. Browne, for that optimism and heartfelt encouragement. It's just what I needed to hear. What if I turned out to be the exception statistic, what kind of a thing is that to say to a patient who might turn out to be pregnant? Not! I'm a complete idiot with my law degree and wasn't able to interpret SG's statistics laid out on their web site for myself. Once at an appt with Dr. Browne, the sonogram tech inserted it in my anus instead by accident. I told her, "You've just inserted that into my anus are you aware of that?" She immediately pulls it out and then inserts it into my vagina. No apology from either the tech or Dr. Browne. So with all the patients they see, maybe some compassion and sensitivity got lost somewhere. I stopped looking for that from the nurses and especially stopped looking for it from Dr. Browne. If I needed a shoulder to cry on I went to my friends, my mother or my husband.

I'd like to add that Dr. Greenhouse was one of the kindest RE's I'd ever met. Warm, friendly, made you feel good about yourself, gave you hope...the kind of doctor I wish I had picked.

All that said, Dr. Chang did get me pregnant at the ripe old age of 42. Would love to give Miss Dr. Brown a phone call to let her know.

So, no, no warm fuzzy feelings at SG with the doctors. If you want that the only doctor I had a very positive warm treatment from is Dr. Greenhouse.

[Anonymous]

I have Dr. Levy and although he is extremely kind I don't feel like I get the actual attention I need. I am going on my 6th IUI attempt and they haven't really altered my protocol that much even after 5 failed ones. I walk away feeling hopeless every cycle. He feels very strongly that I should move onto IVF so I feel like they are just doing the IUI attempts to waste the time until I agree to do IVF. There has been nothing found that is preventing us from getting pregnant so we are in that unexplained category. My nurse is ok I guess. Nice enough but she's really hard to get in touch with and is not the greatest at getting back to you in a timely fashion.

The person I get the most warm and fuzzies from is the ultrasound tech I see on my appointments. Her name is Margaret and she is really sweet. She seems to be the only one that gives me the positive energy I need each cycle.......all in all I feel like a part in a factory rather than an individual patient getting the individual care I feel I deserve. I just feel like they are cashing their checks instead of really focusing on each individual patient.

[Anonymous]

I saw Dr Greenhouse (Annendale/Fair Oaks) and found him to be amazing. He called me on th weekend the day after an IUI because he knew I was disappointed in my response to give me a pep talk. I agree, not all of the docs were as kind as him, but I did like their results!!

[Anonymous]

The Rockville office can be a zoo. I've been there for proceedures and had doctors who barely looked me in the eye. They are in and out of the room asap.
That said, I've found it to be very organized and streamlined. They seem to be very good at juggling a zillion patients.

I think the community-based offices are far more intimate and "friendly" for lack of a better word. We've seen Dr. Osheroff in the Columbia office for the better part of 3 years and 2 pregnancies and he is incredible. He has a memory for the most minute details of our past interactions and is very accessible via. phone. If I have a question I call and he calls me back. I have cried on his shoulder.

I think it's mainly the Rockville office and the doctors who practice in that environment who more impersonal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL! I never got warm fuzzy feelings with SG. Our RE was Dr. Chang but I saw many doctors for various followups. Dr. Chang was always very polite and diplomatic, but always smart and professional and never warm and fuzzy. The coldest doctor I had ever met was Dr. Browne over at Fair Oaks. I was telling her at one appt how optimistic I still was about getting preg even though I'm over 40. I told her that my acupuncturist had great success with all her clients. She retorted, "Your acupuncturist is lying or she probably has just a handful of patients because we see thousands of patients and so few over 40 get pregnant." Gee, thanks alot Dr. Browne, for that optimism and heartfelt encouragement. It's just what I needed to hear. What if I turned out to be the exception statistic, what kind of a thing is that to say to a patient who might turn out to be pregnant? Not! I'm a complete idiot with my law degree and wasn't able to interpret SG's statistics laid out on their web site for myself. Once at an appt with Dr. Browne, the sonogram tech inserted it in my anus instead by accident. I told her, "You've just inserted that into my anus are you aware of that?" She immediately pulls it out and then inserts it into my vagina. No apology from either the tech or Dr. Browne. So with all the patients they see, maybe some compassion and sensitivity got lost somewhere. I stopped looking for that from the nurses and especially stopped looking for it from Dr. Browne. If I needed a shoulder to cry on I went to my friends, my mother or my husband.

I'd like to add that Dr. Greenhouse was one of the kindest RE's I'd ever met. Warm, friendly, made you feel good about yourself, gave you hope...the kind of doctor I wish I had picked.

All that said, Dr. Chang did get me pregnant at the ripe old age of 42. Would love to give Miss Dr. Brown a phone call to let her know.

So, no, no warm fuzzy feelings at SG with the doctors. If you want that the only doctor I had a very positive warm treatment from is Dr. Greenhouse.

OP here: You just gave me a good 5 minute laugh with the ultra sound story. "You've just inserted that into my anus are you aware of that?" is a phrase I hope I never have to utter. We are working with Dr. Chang as well. Like you, I find the statistics less then encouraging. But we press forward.

[Anonymous]

LOL! I'm glad you got a good laugh too. At the time I was just annoyed with them. But now I can laugh about it too.

Good luck OP. Dr. Chang does have compassion underneath that tough professional exterior. After two failed IVF's SG probably wanted to kick me out, but he let me perservere.

[Anonymous]

SG felt cold and impersonal at the beginning, but now that I've been a patient for awhile most of the staff recognizes me and are pretty friendly. I also switched nurses, which helped a lot - the first acted like she could care less, but my current one is compassoinate. I also like to deal with the Rockville financial folks - much friendlier and more efficient in getting things done than the person in my usually office.

[Anonymous]

I agree - the Rockville people are much better for the financial stuff than my office too. I really like Anitha Nair. She isn't my doctor but I've seen her several times for monitoring and she did my ET. Of all the many doctors I've seen in the Rockville and DC office she is one of my favorites. I also like Dr. Osborn. The problem is you don't see your doctor except for your initial appointment and then IF they happen to be doing mointoring during your cycle. Other than that it is a phone call on the day of ET and everything else is through your nurse.

[Anonymous]

I have seen, loved and had "warm and fuzzy" feelings after seeing the following doctors at Shady Grove (I went through several IUIs, IVF and had complications from the IVF, so I saw LOTS of them):

Greenhouse (my favorite)
Browne (my experience with her was completely different than the above posters, she helped me a lot when I had OHSS and Greenhouse was in his other office that day)
Saffan (okay, maybe not warm and fuzzy, but very kind and patient)
Garde (she is the happiest morning person I have ever met, but not perky and annoying)
Levy (he did my retrieval, so I didn't see him a lot, but he went of his way to make sure I was calm)
Nair (she did my fluid aspiration from the OHSS and was so kind, even apologized that they couldn't get me in earlier-- they treated me exactly when I was scheduled)

[Anonymous]

No, I didn't get warm and fuzzy but I got a great embryologist, a nice-enough nurse, a doctor who had no idea who I was when riding the elevator with him -- but most importantly, I got pregnant. That is something my warm and fuzzy previous provider could not give me. I do think it is possible to have both but at the point I was at I didn't care if they put me on a conveyor belt next to the other women. I just wanted to be knocked up.

[Anonymous]

SG has a great lab and top doctors (even if they don't all have great bedside manners) and that is all that matters. I got pregnant at SG when I was 40 so I was thrilled with them even if I didn't always get a warm and fuzzy doc.

[Anonymous]

My doctor (when I got to see her) and nurse were awful. I was 3 cycles in when my doctor said "there may be some male-factor infertility issue here also." I was being TREATED for male-factor infertility. The 2 dozen big eggs I produced with each retrieval should have been her first clue.

And not a single thing was changed in my protocol untiil I was 7 IVF cycles into the process. They just kept saying "it's a numbers game. We'll try again."

That said, I felt that SG had so much experience that I never doubted the information they were giving me. If only they could develop half a clue about how to relate to their patients as people.

Oh, and by the way, I second the opinion about Margaret the ultrasound lady. When I finally did get pregnant, I sent the SG staff a gift basket and Margaret's name was first on the card (behind the doctor and my clueless nurse).

[Anonymous]

I was generally happy with the way SG ran visits and didn't have problems with missing the warm and fuzzy . . .there were a few times when I was upset that visits didn't go well, but overall it was fine. We saw both Chang and another doctor, and preferred Chang. He is a bit formal for monitoring, but we found him easy to talk to and flexible when we went in for visits. He also was very good about contacting me when there were problems or results and taking time to talk out issues (e.g., what to do in the case of hyperstim).

Although I was pleased with SG overall, I still feel angry when I think about the first doctor pushing me to the DE path w/o really considering other options. Fortunately, all worked out well for us in the long run, for which I am very thankful.

[Anonymous]

There is one nurse in the Rockville office with an English accent who is lovely, but overall, wow, they can be shockingly unfeeling. I had a miscarriage at 10 weeks after seeing the heartbeat several times. I asked my doctor if there was anything about what happened that would impact my chances of future conception. His response? "No, you had a pretty vanilla miscarriage." I mean, honestly!