Urgent Care - Charles Town — Local services in Charles Town

I would love to give 5 stars, but I'm unable to, based upon a couple of bad apples. One is a nurse, who has repeatedly made very judgemental statements to me when I've taken my daughter in for an acute illness. Once, I could write off. Everyone has bad days. But she is consistently dismissive, rude, & isn't asking questions to help assess the situation for medical care, but to either shush you 6 seconds in or to interject with questions that are actually judgements in disguise, "YOU DIDN'T CALL 911, TAKE HER TO THE HOSPITAL?!" No, I didn't subject my child to a middle of the night disturbance of her rest & recovery when she, at the age of 7.5, developed a rapid onset fever of 105.5, but I did immediately give medicine, checked her for signs of dehydration, began cooling her with a cool compress, reassuring her she was safe & being cared for, as I texted family to come assist so I could call her on-call doctor & discuss exactly when I should, if necessary, take her to the hospital. At 11pm on a Fri, I focused on her comfort, on not over-reacting, while also not under-reacting to a child who obviously likely had the flu. She was very ill, because influenza is miserable, but she was 7, not an infant, & she's my third child, not the poor first who underwent unnecessary visits to hospitals when he so much as shivered, as the first-born often does with an inexperienced parent. Her immune system was under assault, so exposing a sick child to more harm, simply because they have a high fever, isn't necessary. The science & a world of experienced parents can tell you this, as well as knowing your child & their body. She has always been prone to higher fevers, & just like my first, I expect she will outgrow such responses to viral infections as she becomes an adult. Moral to this story? Parents, even those with experience, another involved parent at home to assist, and access to the best resources will be their own worst critic, and I am a single parent without great insurance; yet I am capable of making moment-to-moment decisions that have the best outcome for my children. Parents need support- not THAT.

Her fever came down, she remained as comfortable as possible, & within an hour, was resting peacefully, in the comfort of her home. We both survived the most dreadful flu I've ever had in my many years on earth, & with guidance from an on-call doctor, I had a clear plan of when to rush to the ER, when to wait for a less dramatic response. We kept to it, & when the world woke up again, she saw a doctor (hence, this particular visit I'm discussing), she was right in front of you, obviously not harmed, not dead, & when the doctor came in, she was not "ordered straight into the hospital" as you went on to insist, in front of her, alarming her even more than she was already feeling, concerning how ill she already felt.

This past Sunday, I had another alarming experience with a nurse/technician & when someone calls me, I'll address just how seriously unprofessional & downright dangerous that person's statements & behavior was & has proven to still be- quite detrimental, now to others.

Until then, both people are the exception, not the rule. I still regret not speaking up to PA on duty, Kalika, but I was frankly too ill to do more than allow her to do her best, despite having to follow a dismissive, arrogant nurse/techwhose job he felt was to pretend to be more able than his training and skill set would allow- to diagnose, prescribe, & make treatment decisions, besides that being exactly what he did, hindering my care & Kalika's ability to provide me with the excellent care we've always received from her.

With that said, I only want to name people who are quite worthy of being held in high regard, & who work very hard to provide quality care from the start to the end of the visit. Tara, in reception and billing, is outstanding. Dr. Sharma, Dr. Rajah, and the PA, Kalika Miller-Pitcher, top notch. They take their time with you, with children, & are sure to provide great care. There's more, unfortunately I just...

It took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to be seen by a provider. The waiting room had literally one other person who came in after me. The PA, (I believe her name was Meredith) seemed clueless and disinterested as to why I was in pain when I presented with classical gallstone signs/symptoms. Only after consultation with the doctor did she suggest taking shots of Apple Cider Vinegar to relieve my pain, because 'it worked for her'. She told me she could not prescribe pain medication even though my pain was rated 7/10. On top of all of that, my prescription was never e-faxed to the pharmacy. I called the next day from the pharmacy to have them resend, and they said they did. When I went up to the counter after waiting another ungodly amount time, the pharmacist said they never received the prescription. FOR THE SECOND TIME. So, I called and asked to speak with the manager this time. I was told there was no manager available, and I waited 15 minutes on the phone for the doctor to pick up. I am still waiting on my prescription. The doctor who helped was unapologetic door my situation. When I was done at WV Urgent Care, I drove directly to the ER and I was triaged by the RN who said I had classical gallbladder symptoms. I was brought directly back to a room, had an ultrasound, UA, and labwork done and was discharged within 2 hours with gallstones, biliary colic, and I was given the pain medication I so desperately needed. This was quite possibly one of the worst experiences I've ever had at a medical facility, WV Urgent Care... Patients, beware, don't waste your time (literally) here. If I thought they actually cared, I would have filed a formal complaint against them, however, it is evident that they have no intention to change since reviews going back years all have the same...

So my husband and I just received the bills from WVU Medicine. We have Aetna and turns out they are not in our network. Ok, shame on me for not looking into it and ignore the fact we have lived here less than a year. We were charged about $800 total for both of us with a total of 3 visits. Part of my issue is that the wait for me was extremely long. My husband's wasn't too bad as he went on an off-time/day. They found that my husband had an ear infection which is strange, but ok. (We don't have kids). They did a strep test for him and gave him a prescription for amoxicillin for the ear infection. Then I go in knowing I'm getting sick due to my proximity with my husband. I go the first time, am dismissed and let go without a prescription. So waited, nothing serious was done, and let go without a prescription, charged like $200 for that visit. I go again knowing I'm feeling worse, am almost dismissed again, have them look at my husband's file and turns out his strep test wasn't properly tested as their 'machine was on the fritz'. I pretty much forced them to do a strep test and give me a script for amoxicillin. I didn't want to have to tell the docs that my dad is going through cancer treatment, is immunocompromised, and I need/want to be healthy so I can see him. Well that visit was like $300. So I wait for hours and hours to be charged for a test that apparently was negative, but who knows if the machine was working, was ignored at the fact that my husband and I share the same space and I probably need a script too. I truly felt like I was crazy leaving that place because I was so dismissed. And guess what, that amoxicillin helped me tremendously. Also, I saw other reviews, we didn't make an appointment, just showed up and waited forever to be seen for...