Dr Donald A Shushan

Great PCP. He is very through in his work and always takes extra time to answer questions. I would highly recommend him.

I thoroughly agree with the other reviewer and I am not a doctor but a self employed woman.
I just saw Dr. Shushan as a PCP for the first time last December. I also had to wait a couple of months for an appointment as a new patient which was fine as I’m pretty healthy.
I was very impressed with the quick process of getting me through the registration/​reception area. His nurse was lovely and very good, and when I had my visit with him I didn’t feel rushed like I’ve felt with other doctors in the past. Other practices treat you like cattle (sitting in various waiting rooms). He was quick to get to me once his nurse was done with the testing and did not rush through the exam. He asked me important questions to get to know me and gave me various suggestions on what to do to stay healthy. What a wonderful experience. This is how a doctor should be; knowledgeable, kind, friendly and efficient.
He’s my doctor from this point on!

I have never had a more frustrating experience trying to make an appointment with a doctor. I recently moved to Massachusetts from another state and needed to change my GP to someone who was more local and convenient. After finding Shushans information on my health care providers website and reading the previous review I tried to make an appointment with him.
Calling his office I was greeted by a women who must have been a general operator for the building and was promptly forwarded to Dr. Shushan’s personal secretary. I asked to make an appointment and I was put on hold. After a few minutes on hold I was transferred to Dr. Shushan’s voice mail box and asked to leave message. This happened multiple times. When I called back I was informed that Dr. Shushan had recently cut back his hours and was not taking new patients. I know doctors in private practices work notoriously short hours. According to the information on my insurers website Dr. Shushan’s office is open from 9am-4:30pm. If he has recently cut back his hours from this listing, I would recommend that Dr. Sushan change his profession. The only other people who work less are bankers…

I recently picked Dr. Shushan as my primary care physician when I changed insurances. Mostly, I picked him because of the convenience of his office to where I live. Also, I am a physician at in the Cambridge Health Aliance system, and wanted to go outside that system for my care so that I wouldn’t encounter colleagues in the course of obtaining my care, so I picked a practice in the Mount Auburn system.
I saw him for the first time last week, and was very impressed by him. It took a few months to get a new patient appointment with him, but I don’t have significant health problems so that was fine. He was prompt and efficient, but quite thorough in his physical exam and review of systems (the part where they ask you questions about headaches, vision, hearing, shortness of breath, cough, etc etc). In the course of my medical training I have seen many physical exams performed on a basically healthy person that were perfunctory at best, but Dr. Shushan was methodical and complete.
He had an easy manner and seemed like a nice guy, so we had a good rapport. He brought up appropriately but did not beat me over the head with what we both knew I could be doing better — diet and exercise. I felt very comfortable entrusting my care to him and if I became ill, I know he’d do a good job and treat me with dignity.
My only minor complaint was with a harried nurse who was a bit short with me. After signing in by the door as a first-​time patient with the staff who handled the insurance, they sent me to the waiting room, but didn’t tell me I needed to check in with the folks there, so I sat down for a minute or two until a nurse came out and berated me in an annoyed voice, «You need to sign in when you get here!» I hadn’t realized you needed to sign in at two separate places. She later calmed down a bit and was nicer to me once I complimented her blood-​drawing skills.