AM/PM Urgent Care with Englewood Health at Cliffside Park — Local services in Cliffside Park

Update (5/14/22) I've been back to this clinic multiple times sense my last review and have had phenomenal experiences each time... The doctors and nurses are all incredible, informative and patient with patients. On two occasions, the receptionist (see contrast with previous review) helped me find the correct paperwork and forms (even let me email it to them to print out). The doctor also waited while I, unsuccessfully, looked through my email and GDrive for some forms that I should have had at the gate. In both cases, each individual showed patience... And the overall visit was seamless (physical and TB).

--+ Had an interesting experience, as I was entering the clinic, a patient who had wanted and waited for a rapid test was a bit irate because in order to receive a rapid test, there is a particular link on the Urgent care website that you have to sign up through. Another lady who was also waiting voiced her concern as she was experiencing the same thing. This is very confusing, especially if you are a walk-in patient (as I was)... And the confusion was exasperated by the fact that there is a tablet in the clinic that allows you to sign in, but at no point informs you that there is an alternative method for registering for a Rapid test. The doctor said there was a sign outside (there was one however it was among a large row of signs not near the door) and I (personally) felt that my suggestion to put a sign next to the tablet in the actual office was brushed off... (To be clear there was no sign inside the actual office indicating a separate method to register for a rapid test).

When people are concerned that they may have been exposed, or possibly infected with a disease that has claimed over half a million lives in this country alone, I think that making processes and procedures as clear as possible is critical. People are scared, confused and often at a loss on how to handle any of this... And that confusion and fear will turn to anger and frustration when the protocols are not clearly stated... The fact that the receptionist was utterly unsympathetic and, at moments, sarcastic did not help to deescalate the situation (it was after 7pm and the angry patient had lashed out that had he known he was not able to get a rapid test then he could have gone to a clinic in NYC... To wit the receptionist curtly retorted "you still can").

With that said, if I were to gage my raining on how the situation was handled, as well as the lack of clarity that lead up to the conflict... I'd give this urgent care zero stars. HOWEVER, my personal experience was better. Despite the confusion, the doctor was willing to show me how to register (there was no availability on that night so I opted out anyway) and my total wait time was under 10 minutes. The exam went quickly and the people on the backend acted with professionalism. I personally had a fine experience however I could have easily been in the other persons mask... And that left a bad taste in my mouth... So I'm taking away a star for the lack of professionalism on behalf of the receptionist, lack of clearly stated protocol and failure to even remotely attempt to deescalate a situation that was at least partially exasperated by their...

Appointments are meaningless. My appointment was at 1:45, told to be there at 1:30, I show up at 1:20. Did my paperwork ahead of time. Was told to come back at 2:30. Ok, so I went to run an errand and came back. I am a patient person and don't make waves, so I calmly wait even more. An older man starts complaining after being in the waiting room for 20 minutes. So what happened? The receptionist bumps them to cut in front of me!! It has now been 1 hour and 40 minutes since I have checked in, and 1 hour and 15 minutes past my appointment time. AND because I was patient, I am one that gets further bumped because of some entitled person. The receptionist confirmed that she bumped them in front of me. I was noticeably, and understandably, upset over that. But I wasn't rude to anyone over it.

Update: I never got seen. When I arrived at 1:20 I reiterated my "symptoms" which were that I cough once or twice a day and had a fever of 99.5 on Sunday night but it went away (appointment was Wednesday.) My father has lung cancer and I wanted to be sure that I did not have covid. They refused to see me. No one tried to speak to me until 3:20. I wasted two hours of my time even though I made that information known at 1:20 when I checked in. Your office could have notified me then. I also put this on the online questionnaire and it wasn't a problem then either. How was this missed?

Furthermore. The people are rude, especially the receptionist. I get that your job is busy and that it is hard to accommodate everyone but your organization needs to fix its capacity algorithms. A patient with an appointment shouldn't have to wait nearly 2 hours. Numerous people that came after me, got to go in before me. Also, how can you visibly bump someone ahead of me (because they were rude to you and complained), and then get an attitude with me for inquiring about where I fell in queue? And then tell me that I have the attitude because I stared at you and did the "what gives" motion with my hands at close to the 2 hour mark of patiently waiting? Seriously? Grow up because I was not rude to you. The only people I saw being rude were you, the organization you work for, and the person you bumped in...

My first visit with the Cliffside Park location was pretty good considering that I waited about 2 hours as a walk-in and received my results through the Quest Diagnostic app within 5 business days. My second visit was even better. I was a walk-in patient again but this time only waited about 1 hour and received my result the very next day.

My third and last visit started off fine but after they finished the nasal swab test, they closed the door and left me in the room for about 30-40 minutes. No one told me anything so I waited. I figured I should ask one of the staff what I am waiting for and it turns out as soon as I was done with the test, I was good to go.

As I'm leaving, I see the front desk with about 5-6 people sitting there (half of them conversing with each other and another one not picking up the phone calls). This made so much sense to me as to why patients wait so long (due to patients like me sitting in the room for 30 minutes for no reason), why no one is picking up the phone calls in the office (Based the extreme difficulty of getting in contact with them, I am highly inclined to believe they don't pick up the phone on purpose or changed their phone system to go to voicemail directly), and why other patients seem to have an unpleasant experience here.

I understand this is an Urgent Care clinic so it's surely busy, but if a situation like my last visit is a recurring event, then the clinic is definitely not as busy as it looks to be. I hope the staff and doctors will be more cognizant of their patients' times and at least do their part in communicating with patients, whether in person or over the phone.

I usually don't leave Yelp reviews but I think this is information future/potential patients should be aware of, for the sake of their time and...