Duke Neurosurgery of Raleigh

This is for the staff, not the dr. Dr. Zomoradi is great. However, I have called his office four times to make an appointment for a follow up MRI. I have spoken with someone twice who said they were putting in a request for the PA to order it. The second time I called, Angel wasn’t sure why the PA didn’t respond the first time I called, but she was going to call and ask and would call me back the same day. Two weeks and two unreturned voicemails later, I still have no idea what is going on. I had this same problem with my local neurologist. It has been 2 ½ months since I began calling for to make an appointment that Dr. Zomoradi ordered the last time I saw him. I am completely unsatisfied with the service and patient care the STAFF is providing. I will be looking to change providers. I hate leaving bad reviews, but being a former employee at a doctors office, I know how important it is to call patients back.

Note: There is a difference between neurosurgery and neurology. This may seem obvious but I mention it because I have learned that this is not common knowledge.
This location is in the same location as Duke Neurology of Raleigh. They share the same building and even the same floor and phone number but are located in different suites on different sides of the building with different doctors.
For the record I saw (and my surgery was performed by) Dr. Ali Zomorodi. One important thing to remember is to ask who will be performing your surgery. I have heard several stories where patients consulted with neurosurgeons and assumed they would perform the surgeries but the surgeries were in fact performed by the neurosurgeon’s PA.
That being said I have mixed feelings about my experience here. I give them 4 stars for several reasons.
The positives:
— This is Duke after all. Many people fly internationally to have their surgery performed at Duke because of the reputation, knowledge, and experience of the surgeons.
— My surgeon was very knowledgeable and experienced in my disorder and has performed high profile surgeries with success.
— The complications from my surgery were minimal and my recovery seemed easier than many of the testimonials I have read elsewhere.
The negatives:
— Poor response from the doctor’s assistant /​receptionist. I was usually sent to voicemail when calling and my voicemails were never returned. On the occasions I did get through I was promised prescriptions or faxes would be sent and they were not. I ran out of pain medicine on several occasions (which is not a good thing when recovering from skull /​brain based surgery). I had to call several times to follow-​up and ensure that simple common tasks were completed.
— Time commitments were longer than expected. Our first appointment lasted 4 hours which were spent waiting for the neurosurgeon to come in and speak to us for 5 minutes (to their credit I later learned this is very common in this field).
— Bedside manner and compassion were initially absent. Our first visit resulted in the neurosurgeon explaining how I needed surgery on my skull /​brain for the back pain I had been experiencing, explaining how he would perform the surgery, and leaving after talking to us for less than 5 minutes. Needless to say my wife and I were both shocked because this seemed very major to us and we were not prepared to hear what he had said. To his benefit the second visit we learned the neurosurgeon is indeed very nice and caring and took all the time in the world to answer every question we thought to ask (we chalked up the first visit to a busy /​bad day)
My overall assessment is that I would have given this 5 stars if it weren’t for dealing with the hassles of the front desk receptionist. Even though I had very difficult and frustrating times throughout this process I would definitely recommend this office and doctor based on the experience, knowledge, and my personal experience of the surgery and recovery. Just be prepared for delays and to spend energy and effort following-​up on commitments.