| rev:text
| - The psychiatrist I had for 10 years closed his practice, due to medical reasons, without notice. I happened to call his office two days before it formally closed. The one staff member still working there told me that Metropolitan Neuro Behavioral Institute (MNBI) would have my medical records and that I should make an appointment with that practice for continuity of care.
As other reviewers wrote, don't expect someone to answer the phone when you call. They won't. Ever. To me, that's quite inappropriate for a psychiatry practice. And even though the outgoing message says that all voicemails will be called back within 24-48 hours, don't expect that to happen either. I left two messages, about a week apart. Nothing. I then filled in the new-patient-appointment-request form on MNBI's website. I received an auto-reply email saying someone would contact me within 24 hours. Nothing.
Over a week later, the new-patient coordinator finally called me. She was very pleasant and detailed on the phone and in the emails she later sent me.
One thing I didn't like from the start was that I had to give all of my credit card info just to make my first appointment. It felt odd to share that with a person and medical practice I was engaging with, on the phone, for the very first time. If I were a no-show (or, I suppose, if I arrived more than 8 minutes late -- that was never clarified) for my first appointment, they would charge me $50 on my credit card. I'd never had such an experience before with any other doctor. For being a no-show for a follow-up appointment, yes, but even that wouldn't be charged to my credit card. I'd be sent a bill or be told I owed a balance at my next appointment. I don't like "merchants" charging my credit card without my signature or explicit approval for each transaction. I also don't like the concept of a psychiatric practice being a merchant, but that's de facto what MNBI is given this policy. Actually, retail merchants are typically more forgiving and understanding with a customer-is-always-right disposition compared to MNBI.
When I arrived, the front-office staff was friendly and polite. I waited five minutes at the most before being called back for my vital signs to be measured. And to provide a urine sample, which I hadn't been told about beforehand. I never had to provide a urine sample with my former psychiatrist. Maybe he was the exception, not the rule. To me, requiring a urine sample before anything else happens is a cold way to interact with a patient at his first appointment. They were essentially saying, "You use controlled substances illegally till proven otherwise." The "most addictive" med I'm prescribed is only Schedule IV. I don't use/take medical marijuana (Schedule I) or Adderall (Schedule II), etc., and wasn't asking for an Rx of them.
The provider I saw was Chitra Mathew, a psychiatric nurse practitioner. She is listed as Dr. Chitra Mathew because she has a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree, which is a clinical doctorate, from ASU. (For years, there has been an ongoing feud between MDs and DNPs about whether DNPs should refer to themselves as Dr. ____ in clinical settings because patients might infer a DNP is an MD, but I didn't broach that topic.)
Chitra was pleasant and easy to talk to. She hadn't reviewed my 10-years-long medical record, which was "bequeathed" to MNBI by my former psychiatrist. Doing so would have been helpful because it took years, literally, for my former psychiatrist and I to find a meds regimen optimized for me, and there were too many trial-and-error meds for me to remember all I had taken without success or with dangerous side effects.
I suppose I was protective of my meds protocol because I knew how difficult it was to discover the specific meds and doses that let me function daily. Chitra held veto power nonetheless. She cut my dose of anxiety medication in half, saying I'd get Alzheimer's disease with the dose I was taking. I replied I didn't think that would work because by the time I finally got to see her, I had been taking just one pill, not two, a day to make the pills last. I started having major anxiety attacks every day, and I hadn't experienced such high and sudden anxiety in years. She heard me but didn't share my concern and moved on without any discussion. Then she discontinued my antidepressant, saying the med I take for ADD has the same physiologic action. (1) That's actually not true. (2) My former psychiatrist had prescribed both for a reason. (3) One is FDA-approved for depression; the other is FDA-approved for ADHD/ADD. (4) The ADD med has a half-life of only 5 hours. She heard me explain in detail why I was wary of that and, then, moved on.
She told me to come back in 3 months for a 15-minute appointment. For me, 3 months between appointments is too long, especially since MNBI offers NO crisis care (e.g., no suddenly needed meds prescribed). Call 911 and wait 3 months to report what happened. Seems very uncaring.
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