Geisinger Health Systems Bariatric Center

My first impression with him on Aug 23rd, 2006 was that he was a very personable Doctor.rnrnAs for his office staff they are highly prefessional & treat overweight patients with the dignity they deserve. Everyone was very pleasant & extremely helpful.rnrnThere is a good structured after care program with support groups once a month.rnrnI will update this information after I meet with him again on September 19th, 2006.

My first impression of Dr. Petrick was he is very energetic, upbeat, and inspires confidence in the procedure and his abilities. MY impression of him has not changed, in that i still feel he is extremely competent, and was my best choice for a surgeon. His office staff was extremely kind and very informative, and i was pleasantly suprised to see on eof his nurses working with me the day of my surgery. What I liked least is that the surgery was done at a large teaching hospital, and my surgeon naturally had several residents. I only got to see him once during my stay, and have not see him personally at any of my followups. H e does quickly respond, however, to emails anytime i have a question. Aftercare is emphasized alot, and he works closely with the nutrional physician. He addressed the risks of surgery realistically, but not to the point of totally terrifying me. I would rate him a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10(10 being the best). I feel surgical competence ,and bedside manner are both important, but overall, i'd be more concerned with his surgical competence, and with Dr. Petrick I never had a doubt in my mind. I have healed well, with absolutely no complications, and I have him to thank for that!

My first impression of Dr. Petrick is that he is a very busy man. Although my appointments with him pre-op seemed rushed, he answered all of my questions. His office staff is the greatest. Most of the nurses that work in his clinic, also work in the hospital and take care of patients post-op, so there are friendly, familiar faces there to greet you after surgery.

The bariatric program at Gesisinger Medical Center is one of the best. You are informed of the benefits and the risks of this surgery from day one. The emphasis placed on aftercare is an essential part of the program. You do not walk away from this surgery feeling that you are alone, they require the aftercare and you are encouraged to call them with any questions or concerns between visits.

As for "rating" Dr. Petraick overall, I would give him a 10 for surgical comptetence, a 9 for bed-side manner, and that is only because he's always in a hurry! But when you're good, you're in demand and that has to be good!!!

I felt very comfortable with my surgeon upon meeting him for the first time. He had a very positive attitude and that comforted me greatly. He has taken as much time as I needed to answer all of my questions and to review everything with me.

Dr. Petrick was wonderful as was the entire staff at Danville Geisinger Medical Center. I would recommend him to anyone who is interested in bariatric surgery.

I thought that Dr Petrick and his staff were very nice! He is very laid back and easy going. Yet he is very professional!

Pre-op: My first impression is that Dr. Petrick is very busy. He had an "underling" take all my information and then came in for maybe 5 minutes. That wasn't really what I expected. I was a bit frustrated by the fact that he didn't sit down and therefore was looking down at me since I was sitting. Sort of awkward. Seems to have an excellent track record at this point.

First meeting with Dr. Petrick and surgery date notification on 01/11/05.

My first impression of Dr. Petrick was, "Boy, is he young!" But that's something that happens more and more every day!.Wonder why???? Don't say it! He seemed very knowledgable and very able to do the surgery.How did my impression change? I don't think anything that I said earlier changed, he did do a every good job on me, I have no problems of any kind!! The only thing was he was so busy doing these surgeries that he didn't have the time to see his patients right before the surgery and I didn't see him after the surgery either. That was the only negtive thing that I could say. His office staff was very professional and polite. What I liked least was just what I said earlier, he just didn't have enough time to talk, you didn't have anytime to get to know him as a person. Can you say that (they) as an office was too professional?? (too busy trying to make a living)??What I would like future patients to know is that you don't have much time with him so know what you are going to ask him. Have everything wrote down.
The after care was very much emphasized and structured. I had 3-4 follow ups with the surgeon and it was emphasized, any problem or questions please call, which I didn't so I don't know how they handled the calls. I feel that Geinisger is handling aftercare very seriously and I feel their aftercare is very structured. I know that I can call them anytime with any questions, knowing that I can talk with any of the nutritional experts and having appointments with them every 3 months for the rest of my life is reassuring.
As far as telling you about the risks of the surgery, again for me, that comes under the care part because we had to go though a every intense 6 month pre-surgery interrogation, for me, I was told the first time every time about the risks. I didn't know for sure if I was going to go though with it till the end of my 6 months.
How I would rate my surgeon is very good. What is better, surgical competence or bedside manner??? I feel they both very important. You can't have one with out the other.

I had my surgery at Geisenger Medical Center in Danville, PA with Dr. Petrick. I was impressed with him at first. However, he never saw me before surgery and never came out to talk to my family after surgery. I never saw him after surgery either. I think that is something that should be done. The office staff are generally nice to all the patience that I have seen.

Since my surgery I have been back to see Dr. Petrick a couple of times and he has been very nice and has taken time to answer all my questions that I have.