Duke Urgent Care South

I went to Duke Urgent Care South.

It is incredibly difficult to get a travel clinic appointment. The appointment phone number on the web site is a runaround. You have to fill out a web form and wait for them to call you 'within 24-48 hours.' *Eight days* and two phone calls later, they still had not contacted me. When I finally reached the coordinator, she said they couldn't see me until next month. If they had told me that earlier, I would have looked elsewhere because I have a deadline to meet. I am going to PassportHealth tomorrow--one simple phone call. I would give zero stars if I could.

Don't go here! Spent 1 1/2 hour for a "brief" travel appointment. Totally inefficient, nobody seems to know what they're doing. There was hardly anyone waiting when I got there and loads of staff. Yet I was left to wait in examination rooms 3 different times. Probably waited 1 hr, and talked to the doctor and nurses 30 mins. Everybody seemed to be very hesitant about the information they were giving me, going through it line by line from printouts. I have been to travel clinics in Canada, Australia and the UK never encountering this kind of inefficiency and lack of experience, or sky-high vaccination prices for that matter.

This was the worst medical experience that I have had, and likely the reason most people self-diagnose to stay away from hospitals and clinics like these.



Late into July this year, I came across a nasty sty. Fearing a more severe infection, I sought out local clinics in which I could travel to fairly safely. I was uninsured at the time, but knowing that I at least had a sty, I expected a reasonable fee for the visit. Arriving at 11am to a full lobby, I signed in and politely noted that I would be just outside on the phone with my parents. I also noted my phone number and asked to be called should I miss my name called out by a nurse. The current wait time then was less than one hour. One hour after sign in, I noticed that no one had contacted me. I returned to the interior of the clinic to find that my information had been crossed out. There was no call attempt, and several employees were in the reception area planning lunch for the day. They simply put me back in the queue to wait again. Ninety minutes in, a nurse brought me to an information gathering room, where she filled out the standard useless information. I was escorted to an examination room where I was left unattended for an additional 35 minutes. Just as I was preparing to give up and leave, a nurse came into the room and asked if I was still waiting for someone. She then closed the door, and I overheard her speaking about the doctors and nurses forgetting I was in the room. About 5 minutes later a nurse came into the examination room with a hefty looking eye treatment kit, only to leave for another 5 minutes. Not even 10 minutes after her return, my examination was completed, having used only one glove and no additional equipment. The examination took all of 3 minutes to complete, with the additional time spent waiting for the nurse to gather take home information on the sty. Returning to the lobby, I found my account to be used for payment missing the appropriate funds. I had to contact my virtual bank to handle the fund transfer, and this process cost me an additional 30 minutes. Approaching three hours at the clinic, it was time to go to reception and pay. The receptionist then informed me that the nurse had not processed my paperwork, and that I would have to wait, yet again, for an additional 15 minutes.



Three and a half hours into my visit, for a 5 minute consult, resulted in a $298 bill. My instructions were to grab some over the counter ointments, all of which I had already purchased, and wait about a week for the sty to drain itself.



This visit was necessary, but the agony of waiting such a long time and the $300 hole in my wallet was not, given the service provided. I am going to dispute these charges, as they are unreasonable and do not justify the services provided to me.