baptist hospital DRs and after care

hi all new here ~ looking to get get some info on Baptist hospital , the DRs , surgery , after care , follow up ,dieticians, ETC. ~~  ANY info you can send me is helpful.

Good Morning!

Baptist is one of the best hospitals in  town.  I had my surgery elsewhere, but attend the Baptist Support Group on the first Tuesday of each month.  From my experience, I know of not one person who has had a bad time at Baptist.

I personally know several people who will stand up for the care and treatment that you would receive there.  With that being said, I can also say the same thing about the other Centers of Excellence in the area.

Good Luck on your journey, welcome to "one" of the best boards around, and keep us informed of your progress.  Oh yeah, jump right in and ask any question you can think of, I'm sure somebody will chime in with an answer!

You can't go wrong with Baptist. I attended seminars at 2 other facilities in the area before finding my surgeon match at Baptist.

All of the surgeons there are very caring, experienced and supportive, not only of their patients but also of all the patients and each other. Everyone from the office staff to our wonderful program nurse - support group leader, friend, fellow WLS patient and head cheerleader - Paula are the BEST!

A more recent post-op will have to comment on the early process now. I'm sure some things have changed a bit in the 4 years since I had my surgery. Even at this stage of my journey though I have access to the nutritionist if I have any questions or concerns, I see my surgeon every year for my annual check up. Shoot, sometimes I just stop by to tell him hi and give him a hug!

When I have had a health concern that may or may not be related to or have an effect on me because of my surgery, I have been able to call and either be seen to rule out a potential problem or at least have my concerns addressed over the phone. Once I was even seen by another surgeon because mine was out of town. The other dr. kept my dr. in the loop by phone until we were sure what the problem was.

I know of at least one other patient whose dr. postponed leaving on his vacation so he could perform gallbladder surgery on her because he wanted to make sure that was the only problem. You just don't find many surgeons who take such an ongoing interest in their patients.

If you have not already attended a seminar there, go and check it out for yourself. Come check out the support group meeting November 3 in the Guy Bates Center just around the corner from the clinic. We meet at 5:30 and there are signs leading you from the lobby to the center.

Hi!    I had a duodenal switch, performed by Dr. Spaw.   I can't tell you enough good things about him, about his office staff and about the care I got at Baptist hospital.   I'm a nurse and did bedside care at St. Thomas and Vanderbilt and then saw patients in research or clinical trials studies at Baptist for years and years, so I'm a well-informed "customer."

I've had such a good experience from start to now.   I've been told things I didn't want to hear, but it turned out to have been best anyway.   The office staff were very helpful in all ways, including getting the insurance approval and re-approval and appeals and re-appeals.   I was very relieved to find a surgeon with an office staff that are not only nice, but also effective!

Dr. Spaw has been very available to answer questions and to help with the process.   He did a peer to peer conversation when the insurance was being obstinant, and someone from his office gave me the name of the very competent law office who actually accomplished the insurance approval.  

Care at Baptist hospital was wonderful.   I had my DS in two parts.   I had the sleeve gastrectomy in January of 2008, and then the DS intestinal portion in February of thisyear.   There was less nurse presence when I had the gastrectomy, but I never felt like the nurses there were overwhelmed or running scared or anything like that.   Staffing was a lot heavier when I had the DS done this year!   There were techs that checked on me, it seemed like every few minutes.   I didn't have anybody with me for most of the time and maybe that made a difference.    I have no idea.  It didn't take long to see a nurse when I asked for one, either.   Everybody was cheerful and it was a really good experience for me.

I'd been talking with some Baptist nurses after St. Thomas bought them a few years ago and I think there were some "issues" at the time.   But I sure didn't see any trace of any kind of staff problems when I was a patient.

Good luck with this whole journey.   If there is anything I can do to help, or any questions I could answer, please let me know.

Dennie