Northwest Tucson Surgery Center - Tucson, Arizona

Sadie Lassiter

Took my 16 year old daughter in for a routine procedure and everyone was amazing except the anesthesiologist Dr Sharp. This guy needs to retire, the first thing that happened when he was introducing himself was he kind of stumbled and dropped his glasses, ok not a huge deal but then he started speaking and words were not flowing out of his mouth, he wasn’t using medical terminology to explain what he was going to be doing, etc. He was administering a nerve blocker with an ultrasound, a pretty routine procedure which should take no more than 10 minutes maximum, it took over 30 minutes. My husband was behind the curtain with our daughter because they would only allow one of us on the inside. Dr Sharp stabbed my daughter in the neck at least 10 times with this giant needle digging around trying to place the medication while my child, who was already extremely anxious, was on the verge of a panic attack, she was crying and my husband was trying to act like it was all normal knowing perfectly well from experience that it was not. He caused her to bleed and was just rubbing blood all over the place with the ultrasound wand. While I was waiting on the other side of the curtain, visibly upset and concerned, the OR nurse came to see what was going on and asked me and I told her I didn’t know, she checked in and asked if he needed assistance to which he said no. She headed back through the doors but came back in about 5 min and sat at the nurses station, waiting. Another person who seemed to be a part of the surgical team came and appeared to ask her what was taking so long because they were ready for surgery, then the surgeon came in and looked as perplexed as everyone else. The nurse that was assisting Dr Sharp was even struggling to understand what was going on and offered the Dr suggestions which was extremely disconcerting. When he was finally done I went in to comfort my daughter and she was so stressed and confused. She was feeling something abnormal in her throat and instead of investigating or reassuring us that it was normal he stood there silent staring. How they could allow someone like this to be in charge of just about the most crucial job in surgery, keeping people sedated and alive, is beyond me. This just occurred yesterday so I do not know yet if he caused any damage to my child, but I highly recommend if you are having a procedure done and Dr Sharp is your anesthesiologist, refuse to let him anywhere near you!

Just so no one gets the wrong idea, the stars are for the amazing pre-op nurse, the incredible surgical team (not including the anesthesiologist obviously), and the post-op nurse. It's crazy how one person can bring down the whole team and create such a traumatic experience for the patient.

Destiny Diaz

I got done with surgery on Friday the 20th and I had Dr. Luther he’s very nice and informative and I like the anesthesiologist and the nurses that were taking care of me because we all cracking jokes the one that really stood out to me was post opp nurse Jesse! When I woke up from anesthesia he was SO COMPASSIONATE and helpful and nice!! Thank you so much guys!

Brian Bown

I had a procedure scheduled there. I was already a bit concerned because I was shifted to a doctor I'd never seen before. But I figured it's a routine colonoscopy. I made preparations for a ride home because of anesthesia. A week before Northwest Tucson Surgery Center a Karen called. She didn't like questions and started talking down to me. I have multiple degrees and have had two of these before. So I know the routine. But I do not like being treated like dirt. I was already thinking I needed to go somewhere else because of the doctor switch. But when nurse "Karen" called I got a lecture about not being nice. So I hung up. Then a "Brad" called and started to lecture me. At that point I decided that since I will be at a new PCP and a new clinic in a week I decided to wait and ended the call and I will go somewhere else. I wouldn't recommend having anything done there if you want to be treated with a minimum level of respect. They are affiliated with Northwest Hospital in Arlington Heights IL. A good hospital in Illinois I am familiar with as I am from Illinois. But in Tucson they apparently don't have the same level of professionalism. So don't go there.️

David Delgado

Got here at 10.45 for my spouses procedure. They wanted her here at 11.15 for a 12.15 appointment. It's 12.15 now and patients who showed up after we did have already been taken to prep but we are still sitting here in the lobby waiting .

Edit: after another patient who had arrived after we did was called to the back I asked when my wife was going to get called. Suddenly she was next although the nurses response to my asking made it seem like they had misplaced her paperwork. This has not been a great showing by the staff.

Shawna Engquist

I had a great experience from prep to recovery. The anesthesiologist was so very kind, Dr. Shapiro was very kind, the nurses in the operating room were very compassionate and my recovery nurse was great. There was a nurse in recovery named Leslie that wasn't very compassionate, my nurse had something to do, asked her to watch me & she had no compassion, told her I was in pain, she says I can give you something but it will only take the edge off, I said I understand & never got my meds,y nurse came back I told her & she asked if my meds were pulled & was told I didn't want any. When my son called to see how long , Leslie was in the background saying I already told him. But everything else was great and the rest of the staff perfect

Veronica Guillen

My father was having surgery in the ealry morning of 12/28 and the front desk staff was extremely rude. Each interaction they had with patients was upsetting. They lacked soft skills, patience, and compassion. An older gentleman came in and asked for a wheel chair and the staff made it seem like a bother for him even to ask. The whole front desk staff and billing department need training on how to work with the public. There was never a "thank you" or "please" ever spoken to any one checking in or out. Each one would come out and say the name of the patient they are ready to see and say "booth 1" and then walk away, then they'd quickly grow annoyed when the patient was hard of hearing and missed their name, Heaven for bid they have to repeat themselves. I'm overall disappointed and dissatisfied with the level of care and compassion from this staff.

Sue Roberts

Definitely do not recommend this surgical center! I had a 7am procedure this morning and had to be there before 6am, there was no one to check you in I just had to wait until I finally knocked on a door of the admissions people (they’re behind frosted glass doors, not paying attention to if anyone has come in or not) I then had to wait another 10 min to be checked in which that then took time, I was finally rushed back after 6:30 for my 7 procedure. Literally two nurses trying to get my bp, IV hooked up, etc all making it seem very stressful. Then after the procedure was done, I was woken up by a nurse. She gave me 1 sip of water, dressed me, and wheeled me out to the parking lot where my husband was waiting. I never even saw the doc after to know how my procedure went. My throat was sore from the tube and I didn’t even get another sip of water. The whole thing felt very rushed, very stressful, and left me never wanting to go back there again. The nurses were friendly and I felt they were being rushed themselves which was the only positive. Looking over my discharge paperwork (since I didn’t get to before I got home) they don’t even have my primary care doctor correct and I gave them that information 3 separate times.

Catrina Briscoe

I have a procedure scheduled in three days and some clown from NW just called tell me that I needed to prepay for the portion my insurance won't cover. He said the facility would be notified that I refused to pay. Since when does a service provider call you on the weekend and demand prepayment over the phone? His caller ID didn't even show it was from NW medical. So what happens if I don't prepay? Is my procedure cancelled?

Awesome patient care... NOT!!!

Follow Up: It's a good thing that I refused to prepay for the procedure because the procedure was scheduled at the wrong location. Northwest Tucson Surgery Center is not even authorized to do the procedure that they were trying to get me to pay for. Would have been able to get my money back? How long would that have taken? This was an unbelievable experience. These people hounded me like debt collectors before they even did the procedure, and it turns out they couldn't do it anyway!

Also, I'm not sure what the game with them acting concerned is. But when you email them as requested using the special feedback email they send you, they don't even bother to answer.

So clearly they are not concerned for their patients before, during, or after care. I suggest you avoid their services. I mean if it's this bad before the services are provided it must be frightening to have them provide any type of care.