Physician’s Automated Laboratory, Inc

Even if you don’t have a phobia about blood or needles, having your doctor order lab work is never an exciting piece of news. First of all, they delegate to the receptionist the task of giving you the bad news that some or all of your tests may require you to fast from food for a set period of time, which is always longer than the normal hiatus between meals. The info sheet stapled to my order stated that I had to stop eating and drinking for at least 12 hours before my blood was drawn. There was a notation to abstain from alcoholic drinks for at least 72 hours if any liver tests had been ordered.
Two questions raced through my mind: 1) Are jello shots considered a «drink» since they aren’t technically liquid? and 2) WERE any of the tests for my liver? Honestly, I had no idea, but it was Friday afternoon, the doctor’s office was closed, and I was heading to my staff Christmas party that evening so I was sure to blow both of those prohibitions. I did the mental math and figured if I was a good girl starting Saturday I could go in for my tests at lunch on Tuesday.
So what does this have to do with my visit to PAL? I arrived there about 10:55 am on Tuesday morning ravenous with hunger since I hadn’t eaten since the night before. I’m sure I was at my level-​headed best. I was directed to sign in and sit down to wait. There were only two other people there waiting. SURELY I could get this over with in time to hit a drive through on my way back to school and still be in my classroom at 11:35. So we sat there and watched the woman manning the front desk do paperwork and answer phone calls. About 11:00 she calls customer #1 up to review her orders and insurance information and then sent her back to her seat to start processing her. A little after 11:05 she called the woman into the back and disappeared herself. Five minutes later the customer returned, but not the employee. Customer #2 turns to me and says «At least it doesn’t seem to take long once they call you back there. My stomach gurgles unhappily but I ignore it.
Thank goodness she reappears a few minutes later, but customer #2 was still sitting there with her insurance card in her hand, unprocessed. More paperwork, more phone calls. Now I’m starting to get worried. She calls customer #2 up and starts to process her at 11:10. See? Things are really moving, now! She sends customer #2 in back to give a urine sample. More paperwork and phone calls. 11:15 and customer #2 comes back out; she can’t remember where to put the urine sample. Oh, Lordy, she’s got to give a blood sample, too. It’s almost 11:20 now and I’m getting nervous. 11:24 and now two more people have signed in, but no sign of the duo from in back. I finally draw a line through my name and race out to the car. I get food at the drive thru but have no time to eat it. I show great restraint by not saying any naughty words.
Now I’m now going to have to go through the whole fasting routine once again tomorrow. A friend suggests that I should be waiting out front at 6:45 so that I can be first when it opens at 7:00 and make it to school by 7:45 am and I agree. I wake up at 5:00 am (an outer circle of Dante’s hell in itself) and race to get ready. Yay! I’m the first one in the parking lot! Another car pulls up at 6:50 and I’m glad I made the effort to be early. I can do this and maybe get Starbucks on my way in if everything goes as planned. 7:00 am. Storefront is dark and locked. 7:08. Dang! I’m starting to sweat a little. I don’t think I can fast for a third day in a row tomorrow. 7:13 am. I start contemplating writing a nasty Unilocal review, something I RARELY do, but I am a wee bit grumpy. At 7:15 a truck pulls up and a phlebotomist jumps out and starts racing for the front door exclaiming how sorry she is, they called her to cover at the last minute. We follow her in as she flips on the light, takes my paperwork and insurance card and starts to process me. She sends me back to chair #2 and I am soon joined by the other customer in chair #1. The phlebotomist chats in a friendly way, putting me at ease immediately telling me the story of her morning. I can’t be upset at her in spite of the inherent crankiness caused by the situation. She promises to get done quickly so I can hit Starbucks on my way to school. She thanks me for not being cranky with her, so many customers often are. Her smile is genuine, and just like that she is done. I walk out of there at 11:21 with a smile on my face and plenty of time to hit Starbucks.
Honestly, I don’t feel like this place is well staffed and/​or well organized, but their employees are trying their best to persevere in a bad situation so I can’t take too many stars away from them. Whoever staffed PAL gets 2 stars but the girl who took my blood gets 5. I averaged them to get 3.

Been here twice. Very long wait. First one was 2.5 hrs wait & today is 55 minutes. Not coming here again. Very understaffed!

I’ve been to this PAL a few times now, and despite the receptionists being hit or miss in personality, they have always done an exceptional job. Both phlebotomists are always super personable and the blood draw part is almost painless. The wait is only 1 – 10 minutes, too!

Service use to be so quick in 15 min you’re done. But now I don’t know what happened. Their wait time is 45min or longer. Now I have to go somewhere else.

There are several PAL’s throughout Bakersfield but this is the closest to my house. The baby and I had to get some blood work done and chose this one solely out of convenience. This is just a «walk in» facility and I don’t think they take appointments. Our experience here with the staff was fine. Everyone was friendly enough and the paperwork process went smoothly. However expect long waits as they are way understaffed and don’t move very quickly. The clientele in the waiting room is also «quirky». I would bett they mostly all had paperwork with their parole officers signature on it.