UI Health Care Medical Center — Local services in Iowa City

• I have been going to the Pediatric Associates location in Coralville for as long as I can remember and have seen multiple specialists at the University hospital and always had an overall good experience (especially always very nice nurses!). Overtime I've seen the staff only get improve and my experiences be better each time (especially as I get older and now handle everything myself). There have been certain doctors that I didn't have the best experience with, but they make it super easy to change primary doctors or make appointments with other doctors to get second opinions. Currently I see Dr. Hager at the Pediatric Associates location in Iowa City and have never had a better experience with a doctor! I recently switched over to her being my primary care doctor because I had one appointment with her a while ago by chance due to scheduling issues and had such a great experience! She always makes me feel heard and understood when I present her with concerns and always offers many different solutions. I only see her maybe a few times a year, but always makes me and my concerns feel important to her, its very obvious that she really cares about her patients! If I come in for a visit with a specific concern she is always prepared ahead of time with research and information at hand ready to discuss when she walks in. This really has cut down in the amount of appointments I've had to make and time I have to spend on the office solely because of how prepared she always is. She sends me homes me papers of information, references, and just about anything else I could ask from her! There isn't been a concern I have presented to Dr. Hager that she hasn't been able to help me resolve herself or give me great references for. An amazing doctor! I'll be sad when I have to leave peds!

•I have to give a special shout out to the the nurses, doctors, and all other staff at the North Dodge Clinic location. Every time I have gone to the clinic (also also visit other places at this location) I have had the best experience with everyone on the staff I interact with! Everyone always seems to be in a good mood, happy to be there, extremely helpful, and always willing to go above and beyond for me! The staff at these clinics are really amazing people that seem very genuinely nice, are super understanding, and are never judgmental. Everyone seems to be enjoying their job and making the most of their day despite how stressful their job is (now more than ever)!

• I recently visited the North Dodge OB/GYN Clinic location. 10/10 recommend this clinic, especially for anyone that is new to going to an OB/GYN! The people at front desk when scheduling my appointment and on the day of my appointment were very kind and timely! As a full time student with a full time job, scheduling an appointment that worked with my schedule was shockingly easy. The two nurses I had for my appointment were amazing. They made sure I was comfortable and content all throughout the appointment. She had go over things a few times multiple times and re-explain them but do so with no problem! They had no issue answering some questions I had that were unrelated to the topic of the appointment and were very knowledgeable on the topics! They didn't skip over or rush through anything and were very thorough and patient with me, but still managed to get me in and out of my appointment in a very timely manner! On the ARNP specifically that I saw (Allie Wampler) : She explained everything in a very easy to understand way! Because I am younger, have never been to an OB/GYN, and had to go to appointment alone I was very anxious and didn't know what to expect going in but NP Wampler and my other nurse made it a very enjoyable and less-overwhelming experience! It was obvious that I was a bit nervous so she made sure that I was fully aware of other options, possible side effects and the benefits of my decision and made sure that I understood fully what exactly I was getting. She talked me through the entire process, kept me calm, and was very...

This review concerns the LGBTQ clinic.

I waited 6 months to get an appt with Dr Nisley, who was, years ago, my PCP.

Soon to leave the department, she "turfed" me to her nurse. That was inappropriate.

I explained that I have had 40 years of Tx-resistant depression with no clinical relief and wanted to (finally) explore long-repressed (and embarrassing) questions about gender identity due to its likely contribution to depression.

The nurse was wholly dismissive and told me, "We have nothing for you."

I chatted about this with a phone receptionist within the clinic. She replied, "That doesn't sound right," and SHE got me scheduled with a resident. Thank you much! But confirming poor service. Saved by unusual chance.

The Dr had great communication skills and was hopeful. Sadly, I only had 2 appts before he left. He said he would set me up with continued care but failed to. I was effectively dropped as a pt. Due to predictably worsened depression, I did not assert myself until significantly later.

Only after later complaining did I get an appt with Dr Imborek. She did not embrace my case.

I was also scheduled with what I thought was an appropriate therapist, as we often had appts biweekly. I would present my quandaries for 50 minutes, and she'd comment and also write any needed Rx's.

This went on for at least a year. I sent her a "decision matrix" to provide focus and help me develop sound goals and choices for better days. I asked her to look at it to check my reasoning and add any options I did not perceive.

She did not do so. Only then was I told that she was not trained in gender issues and mainly wrote patients' Rx's.

So WHAT was the point of all of those appointments over such precious time?

I asked if I could see an appropriate clinical Txpist and was told that there was none. And this clinic does sex-reassignment surgeries??? Imborek prescribed spironolactone with no counseling as to its effects.

At my last appt with her, she said, "I don't know what to do for you. Your case is one in a hundred." I wondered how many older men she encountered; likely few, as they are largely repressed, mortified, in empty marriages, or just give up. Why doesn't this clinic understand that gender dysphoria is expressed in older men who also may be at risk for suicide?

She handed me copies of three pages from the DSM that defined three gender-identity-related disorders, but with no substantive comment. So, I was to take them home and self-diagnose? I also was given a list of non-UIHC clinics, most of which, as it turned out, i could not afford or were youth-focused. I was flicked away.

I have also encountered age discrimination elsewhere. A clinic in Davenport, IA, turned me away as they "only see younger people." Older men seeking help are fewer and encounter greater scorn and isolation. Perhaps these clinics calculate that these "weirdos" will die off soon, of little concern to their business model.

Doesn't this seem repeatedly inappropriate? I attended and paid for many appts; but it only worsened my depression and wasted precious time. After two years, I had to start over to find care.

RESPONSE TO UIHC's REPLY (below) I have gone to the patient representative office to no positive effect. Decades ago, that office would contact involved clinicians for a response. However, UIHC severed that useful feedback loop. The office is toothless. I also complained to the clinicians in timely ways with no redress.

My review describes sequential failures to provide adequate service, indicating the department lacks effective quality control. I conscientiously described them in detail so that UIHC can implement positive reforms now. You have my real name; you could trace my case. I have not received, nor been informed of, nor been offered any improved services to compensate for my losses....

My mother had surgery today and everything was fantastic! UNTIL after she got out of the OR. My dad and I weren't with her the whole timebbut based on how we were all treated together I can't imagine how she was treated alone. The nurses (if they can be called that) did the bare minimum, barely. The one who was attending to my mother didn't think to have something underneath her just in case of bleeding...after she had a hysterectomy... they provided her with pads after she bled through the gown and onto the chair. Then the same nurse didn't explain parking to us which lead to the next mess, but that's to come. Before we got that far we waited for that nurse to come back after he said he would bring a wheel chair for my mother so she didn't have to walk to the parking ramp (which I thought was pretty standard procedure but whatever). He didn't come back. Instead, my dad had to flag down another nurse who helped us get a wheelchair. We get to the elevator and realize we didn't have a parking pass to pay to get out of the ramp. We head back to the check-in desk and there is no one there. We'll, no one sitting at the chair in front. My parents and I are joking with each other and talking as we wait for the two nurses sitting at the back desks to say notice us. They were talking amongst themselves and the one on the left was looking at dresses on the computer, for what I don't care, for several minutes before my dad asks if someone could help us get a parking pass. The one looking at dresses was visibly annoyed that we bothered her... to do her job. The two girls come up front and ask if we had been discharged, we said we think since we had been given a chair and were allowed to wheel her out. One says to my dad, "Woah, let's calm down/bring it down." Mind you, my father was a drill sergeant, if he was yelling or upset, you would know. He was the furthest thing from it and being very polite considering the situation thus far. One of the girls tells us we should have gotten paperwork with a parking pass on the back. I pull out the stapled paperwork and show it to her and she says she doesn't see it. This is where the original nurse comes into play again. He didn't tell us it was a photo copied version stabled to the front instead. We'd never been there for a surgery before and we were under the assumption that the passes looked like the ones by the check-in desk. That must have been the case, but they ran out of them or the common sense to explain things to people who weren't there everyday.. one ofnthe girls finally points out the pass and we thank them for their time. One of them asks us if we have any questions and we say no and start to head out. My dad thinks of something last second and tries to ask but she's already walking back to the desks. They can still hear us though there's no sound proof window or anything. No one makes eye contact or says anything until one comes back over, having heard us but chose not to interact, and says we can leave the wheel chair near the parking ramp building doors for someone to retrieve. My best friend had pregnancy complications and had to give birth at the U of I hospital and she had a horrible stay as well. We've got nurses galore in our family and I get the job is hard, but doing the bare minimum or even showing an iota of care towards post-op patients cannot possibly be that hard. My parents are easy going and kind and hate to cause issues, but I'll be that person in their stead. For the nursing team who helped us at check-in and up until surgery, thank you!! Those ladies were hilarious, helpful, and comforting. For the post-op team... be...