Physicians for Women Alexandria - Long wait times?

[Anonymous]

I started going to Physicians for Women in Alexandria with my second child. So far I'm only 3 appointments in but each one has been a 30 - 45 min wait in the waiting room for them to call my name. I get there ten minutes early so I'm not running late or anything. Wondering if anyone else has expereience this or if I just have bad luck and have hit them on bad days. I mean my appointments are all but 5 minutes long (pee in a cup, listen for heartbeat and we are done). It is a little frustrating waiting so long when I know my appointment is only 5 minutes long. Has anyone else gone to them and experienced long wait times for their visits?

[Anonymous]

Just tell them you can do a max of 30min wait.
Their time is no more valuble than yours.
Call in before you leave for the appt. to make sure they are not running late.
Then walk out of the office after 30min.
Enough is enough.

[Anonymous]

Yikes! One of the things I learned was to schedule your appointments for first thing in the morning or right after lunch. I usually set mine at 1:00 in the afternoon and have little to no wait.

[Anonymous]

I always schedule the 8:45 appt. It is the first OB appt of the day. Still though, while they call me back on time, I will sit in the room for 20-25 mins after my scheduled appt. I have only had 3 appts too and I am already frustrated. But I like the doctors and it's less than 1 mile from my house so I'll deal.

[Anonymous]

I scheduled all my appointments early morning. They have some at 7:45 AM. I also schedule for 8:45 AM. So I never had to wait.
Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Ditto on the 8.45 appointments. I have all my appointments scheduled for the rest of my term (and have since 28 weeks). I felt bad asking, but the girls at the desk totally agreed with me. I almost lost it one day when I had a 9.45 appointment and around 10.45 Dr. Rothman cruised into the room, listened to the heartbeat, looked at my chart and said (literally), "I have nothing to say to you." Which is what I wanted to hear - at 9.45.

[Anonymous]

Interesting, I just switched to this practice since I waited an hour+ each visit when I was pregnant with my DS. I am not pregnant yet & have only been to one appt, but I only waited about 5 min. I had a 3 pm appt. Not sure if day/time made a difference. This post makes me nervous since I am TTC & switched to this practice for shorter wait times.

[Anonymous]

Do you women work for these doctors, or do they work for you?

[Anonymous]

I have had about three appts. 2 with Dr. Siegel (I barely waited) and 1 with Dr. Salgado (I waited quite a while). Not sure if it's provider dependent.

[Anonymous]

Would you consider changing practices? I go to Physicians & Midwives, and I've never waited more than 5-10 minutes; really!!

[Anonymous]

Previous poster can you tell me a little more about Physicians and Midwives. It's much closer to my house but I'm not sure about the Midwive part of it. If you could give me some additional information on the practice it'd be great. Thanks so much.

[Anonymous]

I'd be happy to! P&M has 4 locations in nova, and all of their babies are born ar INOVA Alexandria hospital. They have 21 Doctors and Midwives total, and they encourage you to meet with someone new at every appointment so you get to know everyone. I was skeptical of midwives also; I thought of some older white-haired lady your grandmothers age showing up at your house to catch your baby as you deliver at home. I was so wrong! Midwives are between a nurse & a doctor, and they obviously only work with taking care of pregnant ladies. P&M has a low C-section rate (they won't schedule one just because you want one; they don' work that way). They deliver about 100 babies per month. There is always a doctor and a midwife on-call at the hospital, and this is good for 2 reasons: 1. Your appointment won't be cancelled because someone had to deliver at the hospital, and 2. When you go into labor, there's a familiar face there. They will give you a tour of the hospital in your 3rd trimester, so you know where to go, what to do, etc.
They also give you plenty of referals (yoga, labor, pediatricians). I hope this helps! Do you have any specific questions?

[Anonymous]

One more thing about P&M: they keep their medical records on laptops they walk around with; all your info is right there if you switch around locations, you don't have to worry about your paper file getting there before you.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much for the info on P&M. I hear midwives and think natural birth (ie. no meds). I know this is probably prehistoric thinking but just to be sure, the practice fully supports epidurals and all their glory right Also, if there is an emergency during childbirth, I assume a Midwife isn't able to tie off blood or whatever could happen. Would they just get the doc that is also on call to take over?

[Anonymous]

Nope, they're not like that at all. I'm totally getting an epidural! Yes, that's why the doctors are there, in case of a medical emergency. But most of them are perfectly normal. The midwives are self-called "birth junkies". They love being there when the baby is born! I thought that was really funny, and nice. It will be nice to have someone there who really loves what they do, and they all seem that way. (I'm 32 weeks, so I've have plenty of appointments!)