"Dr. Smith and his staff are all very friendly, down to earth people. I don't know if it's because he is still relatively new to bariatric surgery or if he just likes to hire laid back people, but his office does not have that rushed, "we have a million patients waiting in line behind you and you are taking up valuable time" atmosphere that some bariatric surgeon's offices have.
I am a month post-op now and I would just like to add that since my surgery, I have really come to like Dr. Smith and his staff a great deal. They are all knowledgeable, approachable, and helpful. You're in good hands here. "
"I was immensely disappointed with the nursing staff on the ward that I was on. Of the five days that I spent there, I had one nurse named Beth who was excellent. I later found out that Beth had also had WLS, which is probably why she was so incredibly attentive. However, I felt the rest of the nursing staff was lacking. For instance, on one particular day, the pain medicine in my pump ran out and my pump started beeping. I called the nurses station and told them. Twenty minutes later, no one had come. So, I beeped them again. It was still another ten minutes before a nurse came to change the medicine in the pump. By then, I was not only a frustrated and angry patient, I was in pain too! The transport staff is also hit and miss. In general, they get the job done, but they aren't always the most sensitive to the fact that they are moving a patient who just had major surgery around, and the ride can be bumpy and painful. Whatever the pitfalls of the hospital, though, Dr. Smith is an excellent surgeon and I would say that the headache of the short stay at St. Elizabeth is worth it for him to perform your surgery. "
