Stanford University

Strengths: The clinic is warm, accessible, and friendly. I never felt like a number and appreciated working with all of the staff there. We are continuing our journey at this clinic. Weaknesses: the scheduling system can be confusing sometimes. I would call and speak with the “care coordination” team, only to be told that they couldn’t help me to schedule anything. It seemed at times that only one person was responsible for that, which can be stressful when it comes to time sensitive appointments.

I expected more of the clinic staff to be familiar with LGBTQ+ needs. There are many hurdles we had to cross including informational material and it would've been nice to have these tailored to our specific situation (i.e. we don't have a male partner!). There also didn't seem to be an understanding of the full process, for example requiring a letter from a psychologist. When we asked questions about this we were met with vague answers which led to confusion and uncertainty.

This is a very busy clinic! Please be sure to read and follow all directions before contacting your medical team with questions. Use the patient portal to communicate instead of calling. If you’re confused or concerned about something, schedule a call with your nurse. This is a much better strategy than trying to catch someone on your medical team on the fly.

I don't have much experience so it is hard to say overall. Stanford has nice facilities overall and everything looks nice. The patient portal is really nice especially compared to my current clinic which basically doesn't have one. But the weaknesses of this clinic is that no one ever answers the phone, like ever, it's hard to get any details or questions answered. Everything feels/is really disorganized and I felt that the staff seemed stressed. I really did feel like a number here, not personal at all. It's also a teaching facility so you need to be prepared to have 4-5 people in the room during your transvaginal ultrasound talking about you like you aren't there. yikes. I am so happy we left this clinic.

The clinic have a lot of patients and they work weekends. Get a hold of someone to help you is so complicated. Phone lines are always busy ( exceptfor billing department). My chart app is very user friendly. The billing summary is not very clear. If you don't have insurance coverage, you will need to make prepayments and there is not clear how the deductions are made.

REI Stanford needs to improve it's processes. They seem to have gotten complacent with the Stanford brand name driving patients to them. During my latest egg retrieval a bunch of things went wrong, leading to a 3 hrs procedure taking 11+ hrs! 1. The nursing team incorrectly hooked up the IV. The IV was first attached to my left hand. When the anesthesiologist tried giving my anesthesia, it went into my arm, instead of vein. Fortunately, a nurse noticed it soon. However by then the anesthesia accumulated and caused my arm to swell, without the anesthesia working. Then they tried my left wrist, but it hit my bone. So finally, they switched to my right arm, where it worked right away. This caused prolonged discomfort in my left arm post surgery as well as explained why it took me 3+ hours to wake up. Suggestion: They need to train the team better for IV and anesthesia administration. 2. Leaving a patient unattended and/or without a wheelchair during recovery. After waking up, I wanted to use the restroom. Nurse assigned to me left me unattended inside the restroom and without a wheelchair. If I had at least the wheelchair, then I would not have hit my head over the sink, while losing consciousness. The other nurse who came in to help, scolded me, while I was fainting in / out asking things like “What are you doing? Why are you bending your knees? Why can’t you keep your eyes open?” Surely, if I could, I would have done all these - to avoid hitting my face on the sink, which could have had much worse outcomes than a laceration. Not to mention, this turned a 3 hr procedure into a 12 hr procedure end-to-end, while still in pain and anesthesia. Suggestion: The nurses need to be trained to have better judgement and empathy. 3. Dismissive nurse who seemed to be unaware of my endometriosis history. Context: My history of stage 3 endometriosis and treatment with Dr Nakajima is a long standing one. The Dr knew about it and acknowledged the extra cramping and pain that goes with it. But the nurse was very dismissive of my pain. She kept saying it is “normal and will go away”. Since last time, I was also prescribed antibiotics, I asked if this time I needed the same. She dismissed right away, saying “We give during surgery, not needed later on”. After multiple attempts, she finally went and asked Dr Murphy (?) who confirmed that the endometriomas were not aspirated, so it doesn’t need follow up antibiotics. Suggestion: Train nurses to do their due diligence in internalizing the patient history while delivering care. 4. Oncall Dr ignored my doctor's recommendation on when to give the trigger shot and incomplete information given to the patient. They ignored Dr Nakajima’s notes on when to trigger - a very crucial decision since it determines the maturity of eggs retrieved and makes taking 60+ injections worth it. My trust relation is with Dr Nakajima, not any other Dr. So, despite Dr Nakajima mentioning in the internal notes that “trigger when most are 20 mm”, I was asked to trigger when USG showed only 2 out of 14 had reached 20 mm. Moreover, I, the patient, was not even informed of this contradiction. Had I known this, I would have requested them to get it reviewed with Dr Nakajima and come to a consensus. Suggestion: Give patients complete information and context, especially when deviating from their Dr’s treatment suggestions. 5. Inaccurate updates to family waiting outside. When you met my husband and my brother waiting outside, they were told that I was taking more time to wake up because different bodies metabolize anesthesia differently. They were not told about the IV mismanagements and extra anesthesia administration. Suggestion : Please deliver accurate updates to the caregiver.

New patients should expect at least 15 minutes wait time for appointments. Sometimes that will be longer than half an hour. I'm not sure if this is because of COVID... Please bring your laptop with you if you have to work. You will have access to free wifi, which is good.

The strengths are organization, well spaced appointments, cleanliness , state of the art equipment and protocols that process patients quickly. The only weakness is that they are very busy and because of this maybe there is less privacy in the waiting room.

The clinic was clean, organized, and updated on technology. The receptionists were professional and nice, but just average. The financial counselor was the worst at managing my case. I had to reach out many times to get my questions answered because the follow up was poor. The only way to communicate with anyone with questions was to email my nurse and I will get directed from there. When you truly want to feel like just a number, then this clinic will make you feel like one.

The clinic is at the forefront of fertility research and treatment. My situation is somewhat straightforward (Natural IUI) it is nice knowing that I asm being treated at one of the best facilities. The clinic however mis-handled some of my pre-approval and insurance information which caused an immense amount of stress, confusion, and wasted time. Thankfully my insurance company stepped in to help clear up the confusion that had arisen with Stanford, my medical plan and my insurance. Also the clinic did not send back the tank used to ship the donor sperm back to the sperm bank, possibly die to COVID (Coronavirus) shortened hours and staff, and I have had to field questions from the sperm bank.

Busy organized clinic, lots of staff so sometimes they don’t know many of the patients but I never felt lost. Because it is a large clinic sometimes you see other providers and my actual retrieval was done by another physician, but he was great and I was fine with that as they are all highly regarded. I preferred flexibilityIn scheduling and planning as compared to the clinics where you have to see your specific provider and nurse for each visit, therefore it’s harder to get in.

I saw this doctor when she was part of a different clinic. I offered to write her a review because she was such a good doctor and I felt to grateful to her. I can't speak to the clinic besides that it has a good website, Dr. Vaughn speaks well of it, and if she's there, I know it is automatically a better place.

Strengths are the phlebotomist was very kind. One nurse was also kind and listened to me when I became emotional. Weaknesses, the financial coordinator was terrible. She misinformed me about my insurance coverage; she told me I had 100% coverage when I only have partial coverage. Good thing I called before hand. I was also given a treatment plan without having completed my exams and scan. The doctor I saw was not the most kind or informative. The front desk was also kind and cordial. The building was clean and there was plenty of parking.

Very experienced, lots of cycles (both good and bad), but lack attention to detail and individualized approach. The only opportunity you get to speak to a doctor is during a procedure or specially arranged consultation. They pass you back and forth to whoever is available in the practice. Also, this is not the practice if you want to combine your treatment with any integrative medicine, such as acupuncture or supplements - they don't believe in that here (also good and bad thing). This is a teaching hospital so you will get residents and medical students at your appointments and procedures unless you refuse that (we didn't mind).

Strength : Staff and qualified doctors Very organized team Nice and clean office Very adjusting Results are available on the portal ASAP Nurses are very prompt Very reachable through patient portal and phone Weakness There is waiting sometime but I guess that’s fine atleast for me Sometimes they mess up the bills and it’s very frustrating. I did notice twice that no approval was sent at the insurance and they billed me the whole amount which is very sad because infertility treatments are very stressful and to deal with insurance adds up to the stress.

Scheduling appointments was around their schedule, and they often did not have times that worked well for me. Although you are assigned a primary attending physician, you will be seen by anyone. Which sounds good, so you don't have to schedule around one person. But seems like it really means your treatment plan is not understood by the people you are seeing. Or maybe it is that my particular doctor didn't do a good job of documenting my treatment plan in my chart, so other doctors couldn't answer the questions I had.

I'm not a huge fan of the group practice model from a customer service standpoint. We based our decision of where to go on a) Stanford's good outcomes data and b) Stanford's size and length of the clinic's experience, and c) our assumption that the institution has strong laboratory infrastructure, so there was a decent chance the IVF lab was good or at least wouldn't make horrible mistakes. Having had a successful implantation and live birth on our first try with Stanford, and hearing how they were not one of the clinics that accidentally destroyed embryos, we still stand by our decision, even though our experience had some bumps along the way.

This clinic is a typical teaching clinic - disorganized factory line. If you’re looking for personalized treatment plan and an individualized approach - go elsewhere. You’ll be passed from doctor to doctor within your cycle per the schedule of the clinic.

The facilities are brand new. They are clean and, from what I understand, have state of the art equipment. The lobby is somewhat small and can get crowded at times. If you arrive at those times, you may have to wait in line to check in. Save for those minor issues, there really is nothing to complain about. I most cases you do not have to wait long.

Strengths - smart doctors, they will take almost any patient regardless of age or diagnoses. Weaknesses - VERY busy - the waiting room is always full, only offered Day 5 transfers with genetic testing for me, no Day 2 or 3. I felt more like a number and when it didn't work they were like..."Oh well"....I wished they had acted more like "What's next" since I still didn't have a baby.

I’ve been really happy with Stanford overall. I will say that if you are looking to have all of your care performed by the same physician, this may not be the clinic for you. There are a team of doctors here, and they all work together, so while you see your primary doctor as often as possible, it isn’t always your doctor performing insemination or ultrasound if they are not on duty when you require your specific treatment or intervention

Strengths- incredibly smart doctors. Short wait times. Quick responses via MyChart. Weaknesses- only negative experience was with Dr Agajonova. She made me feel like I never was going to be able to conceive more than once. At which point I switched doctors. I would have liked to know more about the behind the doors process with our embryos. What the embryologist did, what’s protocol was use to freeze and thaw?

Clinic strengths: the staff are very nice and work really hard to meet your needs. Being at a prestigious research facility is also comforting. You know the physicians are high quality because of the Stanford reputation Clinic weaknesses: it's a huge patient population and it can be hard to get a hold of someone if you have an emergency or a question

Front desk and call service was a hit or miss. Sometimes they were great (super efficient, prompt at calling back after I notified them of a certain event in my cycle). Other times, you would wait at the receptionist's desk for 30+ minutes. I also had a couple times where I would call to notify the beginning of a cycle or of a positive OPK test. I knew that a visit to the clinic was needed within X number of days, and I wouldn't get a call back. It added a lot of stress, where I would call multiple times in the next few days and still get the answering service. Everything worked out in the end but I do think it added a lot of unnecessary stress to an already stressful time. Separately, the main phlebotomist at the clinic is AMAZING. Super calming, sweet and every blood draw was painless & smooth (I have tiny/difficult veins). Loved her.

This clinic has no strengths for woman like me who are looking for an outstanding medical practice that will produce success. The clinic is always packed and you can wait between 5 to 45min for your appointment. The front desk can't even give you a receipt. For example, I paid my cycle in November and was told at the day that the printer wasn't working so they couldn't print a receipt. I called many times and asked different people about the receipt, today, 3 months later they were able to give me the receipt! Another example, las Tuesday I had an appointment at 11:45am. I arrived on time and waited for 45 min. I had to return to work. They called me and asked me to return at 4pm. So I did. AS I checked in the receptionist wanted to charge me for the copay again?!