When you choose your surgeon ... you get his team too.

[Water Nazi 61]

How does the entire team measure up?

Who is a hospital employee and who is a team member?

These things may play into your overall experience.

People to consider:

Anesthesiologist (THE most important person, he's the guy that keeps you alive). Experience? Employee or team member?

Nurses: Hospital employees or team members? Some companies employ their own nurses, you may not have to settle for staff with little/no English.

Co-ordinator/advocate: on phone or on site?

Aftercare: Is there an aftercare person to answer your questions when you've forgotten everything you thought you knew?

Myself: I recently changed surgeons to get a better team.

Not everything rests in the hands of the surgeon.

[nolagirl 36]

Water Nazi what a GREAT TOPIC!! like one of the ladies on here that recently had a pretty good surgeon and not such a great team. You are so right!! the best surgeon in the world does you no good when the Anestheiologist is new and forgets to give you ANY pain meds for 24 hours and nobodyyin the hospital speaks enough english to try to figure out whats wrong.

 

very very good topic.

[atroglet 29]

I completely agree! Dr. Illan's team is just plain awesome! Every doctor came in to meet me and go over my case. They answered every question I could throw at them and passed with flying colors. They all spoke understandable and good English. They just seemed to be interested in me and my case. (As I had previous complications in US from lapband surgery). PM if you have questions.

[sherry24184 253]

I completely agree! Dr. Illan's team is just plain awesome! Every doctor came in to meet me and go over my case. They answered every question I could throw at them and passed with flying colors. They all spoke understandable and good English. They just seemed to be interested in me and my case. (As I had previous complications in US from lapband surgery). PM if you have questions.

I totally agree!!!

[1sunnuri 77]

I so totally agree. Dr. Illans team is the best. Every question answered and everyone is taken care of. It was an awesome experience.

[Kindle 8,667]

This is exactly why I went with OCC. They have a total of 8 doctors and 4 RN's on staff that have been working together and taking care of bariatric patients for years. They have two surgeons (Dr. Ortiz and Dr. Martinez) and two anesthesiologists in every surgery. Dr. Jimenez, their cardiopulmonary specialist goes over your preop questionnaire and runs preop tests. You meet with the nutritionist beforehand and she goes over all of your postop diet and supplement program in detail. My nurse and the night doc were both friendly and helpful. Dr. So does all the followup visits, including the barium swallow and drain removal.

Their driver, Joel was funny, full of good info and comforting when we were all stressed about crossing the border. Gloria did a great job coordinating all of our travel issues. Everyone speaks very good English, so communication was never a problem.

The most pleasantly surprising aspect has been the superb postop followup. They send weekly email surveys to track our progress. Today (Saturday) I had questions about a new antibiotic my dentist wanted to put me on. I called OCC in the morning and Dr. So returned my call within a couple hours. After speaking with him, I thought of another question and I emailed him. Again, had a reply within a couple hours.

Dr. Ortiz's credentials first attracted me to OCC, but after lots of research and dozens of questions, it was the OCC team that won me over. Sorry this is so long, but There's just so many good things to say about the gang!

[2btrim 129]

I completely agree! Dr. Illan's team is just plain awesome! Every doctor came in to meet me and go over my case. They answered every question I could throw at them and passed with flying colors. They all spoke understandable and good English. They just seemed to be interested in me and my case. (As I had previous complications in US from lapband surgery). PM if you have questions.

Yep, Im right there with you on all that. I met with all the Dr.s and the anesthesiologist came and chatted with me before the surgery and she was just so nice and really put me at ease. Dr Illan really does have a complete and excellent team put together including the best coordinator around, Omar Acosta. He see's to it that you are taken care of from start to finish.

[skullcandym91 8]

I completely agree! Dr. Illan's team is just plain awesome! Every doctor came in to meet me and go over my case. They answered every question I could throw at them and passed with flying colors. They all spoke understandable and good English. They just seemed to be interested in me and my case. (As I had previous complications in US from lapband surgery). PM if you have questions.

Agreed!!

[*susan* 1,709]

Great topic, you are so right, it isn't just the surgeon, it is the entire team. You want to make sure they are all reputable and in a full-service hospital with modern equipment that is staffed 24/7. I know that was important to me, I wanted to make sure there was qualified staff around 24/7 to provide care and, emergency care, if needed. That is why forums such as BP are such an important part of the research process, because you can gain first hand knowledge from those who have already gone through the process.