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Dorothy Christiansen, MD

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Dorothy Christiansen, MD
Primary Care Specialists
(3 Reviews)
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190 Groton Rd Ste 110 Ayer, MA 01432
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Consumer Feedback

(3 Reviews)
Service
2 star average for Service
Environment
1 star average for Environment
Expertise
3 star average for Expertise
Staff
1 star average for Staff
Recommended
2 star average for Recommended
Was this provider's staff friendly?
No, they were rude
Were you able to get answers to simple questions from this provider without scheduling an appointment?
Not at all! I had to schedule an appointment for absolutely everything!
Does this provider treat their staff well?
Not at all. I felt terrible for all the staff members
Does this provider have a good professional reputation within your community?
No, they aren't known for being skillful
Do you feel that you could have received better service somewhere else?
Yes, I think I could have gotten better service elsewhere
by Anonymous xxx.xxx.232.214
September 19, 2013
Were you able to get answers to simple questions from this provider without scheduling an appointment?
Not at all! I had to schedule an appointment for absolutely everything!
Did you have to wait long after you arrived for your appointment?
I had to wait for a little while.
Did this provider seem well-trained and experienced?
Yes, they seemed very qualified
by Anonymous
October 12, 2011
I have been a patient of this doctor for over 7 years. It is a long drawn out story of me dealing with a secreatary all day on a Friday after calling for a refill on a Tuesday. I can tell you, I was in pain, crying, and could not get a call back. She left for the weekend leaving me to cry on the couch for a good part of the weekend. I was told that I would get a call back and that the secretary was walking down the hall that minute to inform her to call me and that she will. Never happened.

In my opinion, the secretarial support staff is poor. The doctor will tell me that I can see whoever I want for my back pain, then i walk 20 feet to the reception desk and get told that the doctor was wrong, and I have a choice of 3 clinicians and that is it and who do I want. I tell them that the doctor JUST told me that I can see this doctor that i want, and they tell me that she was incorrect. They never get up and go ask her. Are they all working off of different office policies?

I called another time, few years ago. I state to the secretary that I have acute abdominal pain and I am doubled over at times with pain and it is worsening. She does not get a nurse, or ask me any questions, like do I have a fever. She offers me an appt for several days out. Being a nurse, I know that the appropriate response would be to get a nurse and have the call appropriately triaged to determine if I need to go to the ER versus being brought into the office in an appropriate time frame for my symptoms.

When I was pregnant, I had a problem with shortness of breath. I went in, got evaluated. I paid the copay for the viist, the copay for the echocardiogram, and then the issue was dropped. I was never called to see how I was doing, or for a follow up. Also, i never got the result of my echo. I assumed if it was abnormal i would have gotten a call.

Most of the time If i needed an appointment, I have gotten one in a reasonable amount of time. When I see her, she orders tests, in my opinion maybe more than needed. If you want results of labwork, you may not get them unless you call or ask at your next appointment. I have only twice in 7 years requested to speak to her, once about eczema, and once about acute back pain that was going on for months. Both times I was unable to get a call back. Even begging the secreatary got me noplace. This is a fact.

I think this practice needs help with telephone triage skills, definitely. I am not sure what type of training they put their secretary through to start working there, however, it was not enough. She does not know when to get a nurse or another medical professional to take a call or when to ask for help. I had a specialist call the office and she spoke to them. She never passed the information onto a nurse or the doctor. I was told that they never got a call. The secretary told me that she got a call... but it was never put into my chart, so I was out of luck! For some reason, she is confident in her "skills." In my opinion only, the only skill that she is good at is scheduling.

Perhaps the support staff is reflecting poorly on this doctor with wonderful skills. Nonetheless, it is her responsibility to make sure that her staff is doing their job correctly and accurately to avoid any other patients being put through what I have been put through being left for the weekend in severe pain. I was told that percocet is a cancer drug and I should not be on it for acute back pain. This was actually a nurse who told me this on Friday afternoon. Just so you don't think this review is coming from an angry drug seeking patient, I have only gotten 20 tablets of percocet for my back/hip/buttock pain in a five month period of dealing with the pain. I called for a refill over 2 months from the time of my first prescription.

Hopfully changes will be made in the office. Currently I have an acute problem that needs to be dealt with. I am hoping I can get what I need as far as referrals go. Hopefully it will not take me several visits to this office. Once this problem with my back is rectified, and hopefully it will be, I am thinking I may need to change my primary care. We'll see how it goes from here. I did not think one call to me in 7 years was unreasonable to ask, and I was in excruciating pain with my back. This in in my opinion only.
by Mrs.D
July 27, 2010
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190 Groton Rd Ste 110, Ayer, MA 01432