Generations Family Practice

I was a long time patient at Generations until last year (2015). During that time, Sarah Kelleher left. She was truly wonderful, and a nice counterpoint to Dr. Nguyen, or as we called him «Dr. Hack». That guy will just sell you a Porsche when all you need is a VW. I finally left the practice for good last year. I had been in Reston hospital for an infection, and I called the practice for some follow-​up questions based on a few symptoms I was still having. The doctor I was seeing at the time, Dr. Scott, was not available. I called the nurse practitioner line and they put me on hold and then came back and said «Dr. Nguyen says, go back to the hospital emergency room». I was utterly disgusted with that response. I immediately called another GP, saw her that day, got my questions answered and went home. Needless to say, I didn’t go back to Dr. Hack.

When I first moved to Virginia, my family told me this would be our new doctor. I was pleasantly surprised that it was a good practice that put patients first. Over the years that care has declined.
–They never keep their appointment time and you are left waiting beyond the specified time (while missing work for this appointment mind you)
–The front desk is very rude
–The doctors rush you in and out, almost not even listening to what is actually wrong with you. Just to get to the next customer
–Worst of all what sent me and my family packing looking for a new doctor is the fact that my sick mother went in there and was treated very poorly. I forget the name, but a male african american nurse, jammed a q-​tip up my mothers nose for a sample. He was so rough, that she started bleeding when she left the office. Every other test he ran he was basically hurting her, even when she told him to stop.
Any care in this place is long gone.

in the interest of fairness, I need a few days to calm down before I write this review. when I do write it bedside manner, and human dignity will be a main topic.

My family moved to Reston in July 2015 and picked these folks as our PCP. While it seemed okay at first, they quickly had some staff turnover and the whole operation became kind of a disaster. My family and I have made appointments, and when we show up we consistently wait *at least* 45 minutes to see a doctor. I’ve waited as long as 1.5 hours.
Because they don’t have enough doctors to service all their patients, we have been unable to get our very young children (including a newborn) in for appointments in a reasonable time. We had to switch the children to another pediatrician, because when a very small child is sick, you can’t make appointments 6 weeks in advance.
On one occasion, my wife was 4 minutes late for an appointment for a 4-​week-​old baby. The administrative staff let someone else in ahead of her and scolded her for being late (bear in mind that, as discussed previously, we consistently wait 45 minutes to get in even if we’re early).
On another occasion, I waited an hour or more to see the doctor for follow up on the results of a blood draw. When the doctor came in, he realized that he had everything except the information I was there to discuss. He had to leave and go get the relevant results, creating even more delay. Then when he finally came back and discussed the relevant information with me, he did it in a way that I felt was unkind and somewhat unprofessional.
He was a temporary doctor brought in to bridge the gap in coverage they have had with all the staff turnover. I think he’s leaving in 2016 sometime, but the point is that as of late 2015, this practice has been in a state of apparent turmoil. The doctors and NPs have mostly been good when we finally see them, but the waiting is a consistent problem that is ultimately unacceptable, and has pushed us to change PCPs.

Two visits so far, and not sure what to make of it. The phlebotomist is great — a real plus — and the medical staff seem competent so far, though I’ve just asked for blood tests. But the support staff and nurses I’ve encountered are brusque and difficult to deal with. Customer service doesn’t seem to be a priority here.

I’ve been going here for years, always great care. When Liz left, I usually saw Sarah, and then she left. Then they joined up with Privia. I saw Stephanie and was impressed, then she left. I don’t know if being with Privia now, plus being short staffed, has brought the practice down, but for 10 days I’ve tried to get my prescription for the pill refilled. They told me today the CVS fax went to Stephanie’s email, and she’s gone now. I’m surprised a medical office had no back up plan to check her email. They were supposed to flag my refill as top priority. Nobody called me back today, as promised. I sympathize with staff issues, but it’s a medical practice. I take the pill along with other meds for balancing out moods around treating bipolar disorder. Now I need to find a new physician or see if my psychiatrist can prescribe the pill. My whole cycle is now interrupted, and this is bordering on dangerous for me. I find this unacceptable for a family practice, and I’m sad I have to leave Generations after all these years.
December 31 update: I did get an appointment with a doctor working temporarily at Generations until the doctor who had surgery returns. Hopefully, I can resolve my prescription issues, as I’d prefer to stay with this practice. All of the nurse practitioners, PA’s and doctors I’ve seen here have been top notch. I think the front office might be in need of a little help or overhaul, however.

I come all the way from southern MD to have my family’s health needs addressed. I have seen all of the providers here. They are all thorough and I can usually get an appointment rather quickly. I recommend this practice for patients of all ages.

After being a patient here for many years I finally got fed up and left. Twice during the 5+ years I use this clinic, I scheduled appointments. When I showed up at the scheduled time, I was told that I did not have an appointment that day or any day! When I decided to leave The practice, I went into the clinic in person and filled out the paperwork to get a copy of my medical records. About 10 days later, when I did not hear back from the clinic I called them to find out if a copy of my records was ready for me to pick up. They had no record of the paperwork I had filled out in person to get a copy of my records! When they finally did get a copy of my records, I carefully read over them and there was a mistake. Dr. Nguyen had written that I was taking a prescription that I have never taken. He must’ve written the records later and got me confused with someone else, but regardless my medical records were incorrect. Although the repeated incompetence of the front desk staff caused me to want to leave the practice, Dr. Nguyen’s errors in my medical records confirmed that I made the right decision.

I needed a simple thing from this office: to have a prescription refilled. In my efforts to refill this prescription, my pharmacy and I have been calling this office for 6 days. I myself have called 8 times, left 3 voicemail messages, and sent 1 email in any attempt to make contact with the office.
After calling 8 times in 6 days, I was able to speak with a human being only 1 time. I thought finally now that I had a person (Kimberly) on the line, my issue would be resolved. Instead, Kimberly put me on hold, then asked me to hang up and wait for someone to call me back. I asked why the issue could not be resolved immediately, but Kimberly could not provide an explanation. Finally, I agreed to hang up, asking that someone call me back within the hour. Of course, no one did, and no one picked up when I tried again to call back later.
At the end of the day, I received a voicemail from the office asking me to call back and leave a voicemail with my personal information… Yet, I had already done EXACTLY THAT 3 times at this point. I don’t understand why I am expected to call and provide my personal information a FOURTH time.
I do not understand why my request to refill a prescription is continually ignored or lost. The inefficiency and incompetence of this office has now left me with no medication and apparently no way to even speak with a representative, much less to obtain a simple refill.
I am furious. There is no excuse for this degree of incompetence and I have no intention to see this office again or to recommend it to anyone.

Dr. Nguyen has been my primary doctor for a few years now and I wouldn’t think of going anywhere else.

Adding to my original review — I had pneumonia and Dr Nguyen was out of town for a few weeks, so I saw Dr Scott twice during that time. She was wonderful too! I felt comfortable with her instantly and she was very patient and sympathetic with me as I was feeling pretty emotional at being sick for such a long period of time. I’ve been feeling better over the last week and she called me tonight just to check on me. Little things like that mean a lot!

This is as good as it gets. There is never been a doctor that I have cared for more than Dr. Nguyen. He is kind, compassionate and absolutely wonderful. He has helped my family out so much and there are just not enough words or adjectives to describe how we all feel about him and his staff. His nurses are some of the best out there, actually they are the best. He takes his time with all of his patients and he still manages to not make us wait too long to see him. That means he’s not double and triple booking patients like most doctors are nowadays. He has found things that even Johns Hopkins Hospital could not find. And referred us out when he did not have the answer to whatever problems we had. And let me tell you… when he refers you to another doctor, they are also the best. I could never thank him enough for all he has done for us.

I have been going to Generations Family Practice for over a year now. I loved Sarah, and she is no longer in the practice, which is upsetting. I called for an appointment this morning and never received a call back. When I called back later, the receptionist said they were booked and suggested I go to Urgent Care. She did not try and offer to call if someone did not show and she did not offer an appointment tomorrow. Disappointed in the practice after Sarah’s departure, and now very disappointed in their scheduling department.

The medical staff and support staff at Generations Family Practice are top notch! Only once in nearly 10 years have I had to wait in the waiting room for more than 15 – 20 minutes. Was sad when Liz left the practice, but her replacements have been great. Everyone at GFP is very caring about your medical issue (s).
Found the practice about 11 years ago when I, not knowing, was suffering from the flu and my regular doctor couldn’t see me for two days.
Highly recommend.

Last four times I went here I had to wait over an HOUR to be taken back to a room. Dr. Garrett was really nice and caring, wonderful doc, but the second time I was seen I was scheduled to see Dr. Garrett but honestly I have no idea who I saw but it wasn’t her. I forgot to ask since I waited an hour in the waiting room then waited another half hour in the appointment room to be seen. I felt like the waiting room was pretty dirty– chairs are kind of packed in and there aren’t any mask dispensers or anything so the guy next to me was hacking up a storm next to my obviously pregnant self. I have no other reason to go back here again so after several crappy waits and experiences I’m not going back. Why should my insurance pay and I pay to sit for 2 hours before even being seen and not even by the doctor who I was scheduled to see? If I had to go back I’d bill THEM if I had to wait more than an hour to be seen, there is no reason to make patients wait so long and especially without providing any kind of explanation.
Also, Sarah is no longer working there, she was always on time and caring.

I can’t review the doctors when my wife wasn’t even able to see them. I made the appointment because Dr. Bao Nguyen had such great reviews. The main issue, the receptionist. I don’t like to use the word, but what a useless b***h. Who hires incompetent and rude workers like her? She’s very unhelpful, very nasty type of a person and isn’t willing to do anything or help. «oh we are busy, we are busy, we are busy» seems to be the only thing she can say. She’s like a rip off insurance company sales woman seriously. She loses patience very quickly and before you know it you unconsciously just walk out the door because «ain’t’ nobody got time for that» The facility is not very well kept either. My wife wasn’t pleased at all so we didn’t bother rescheduling and just left the place. I scheduled it based on reviewed, I don’t know if the doctors are good or not but based on the receptionist and facility it’s a NO for us. We’ll look elsewhere. What a joke. Healthcare has made lots of advancements in the years… get with the program! Go with your gut if you schedule an appointment here, if you feel it’s wrong… leave like we did.

I saw Sarah Kelleher, PA-​C yesterday for my first physical and she was great. Everyone was extremely helpful and everything happened promptly. Definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had at a medical office.

I’ve been seeing Sarah for almost a year now. She is the best medical attendant I’ve ever had. She goes out of her way to help her patients, including holding their hands when they have to go through a blood draw. I couldn’t ask for a better doctor.

this place is joke. the nurses could use some training in people and telephone communication skills.
Appointment Canceled
Sat Oct 5,

The doctors and PA’s here are awesome, so I still plan on going to this office. However, some of their nurses could use some training in people and telephone communication skills. For instance, if you tell a patient you will call them back once you speak to the doctor, then make sure that you do. In a timely manner. A day and a half later is not timely. Another thing, if the message from the doctor is to go to the ER, DON’T leave that as a voicemail message and assume your job is done, especially if more than one phone number is provided. Maybe the person doesn’t listen to voicemail, maybe it’s not a personal number, there are many reasons not to do this. Call them back until you speak with them or call their emergency contact or try that second number they have given you.
To sum it up, as long as you don’t have to deal with the nurses via phone (one in particular but I will not mention her name to protect the guilty), this is a great place to go.