Santa Clara Center Pediatrics – Palo Alto Medical Foundation

The pediatricians are wonderful, but I’m here to speak about their unethical practice of charging $ 18 to have a school physical form filled out (if it’s not done at the time of your child’s office visit). We all know that insurance dictates when your child can have their physical exam (once a year). Sometimes schools or camps require you submit physical forms at odd times. To be charged money in order to have a form filled out in order to attend school, camps, or work is unethical. Physicians can request time be blocked out for paperwork and can sometimes bill insurance companies for time spent on paperwork, but to charge the patient is ludicrous. I can understand this policy being enforced if the patient loses his/​her form, but $ 18 is quite high, especially if it is for families who struggle. As a physician myself, my institution would never enforce this unethical practice and neither would our doctors. PAMF, you should be ashamed of yourself!

The place is well maintained, clean and tidy. Been here for both my kids for last 4 years. They have the lab facility just opposite in Family Practice area, which makes our visit easy.

Helpful and nice staff. Excellent doctors. Never have to wait long for an appointment. Clean, well-​maintained office. Definitely recommend this pediatric team for your little guys or girls.

It’s kind of a weird place for a pediatric office.
Reason I was there was because I was going to a one-​on-​one Nutrition advisement appointment, which took place in one of the offices to get gently chastised for my diet and weight and to school me on how to practice mindful eating.
My daughter’s pediatric office is in Sunnyvale.
Of all the places in the Valley, I don’t know why PAMF would choose to park their Santa Clara location in a run-​down mini mall (other than the cheap rent and location, which are good enough reasons, I suppose).
In any case, it’s OK. The location is convenient, as is the parking, but not ideal for a medical office. There’s a lot of weird people hanging around in the parking lot.

During our checkup, Dr. Nancy Zises (Barnett) had my five-​day old baby stuck in the rear eight times with a thermometer, causing the baby discomfort each time. Why? Because her digital thermometer showed temperature a couple of degrees lower than normal. In fact, all three of her thermometers showed vastly different numbers.
Rather than using a different way of taking temperature, she kept us hostage in her office and cold waiting room for over three hours and kept poking my baby. She refused to let us out, forced me to wrap my baby in two blankets and blasted a heater, to make her temperature «go up» artificially, for legal reasons. Whenever we tried to leave, she threatened to send my healthy baby to the NICU.
She didn’t even let us leave the office when the baby was getting hungry and wanted to nurse — crucial during the first week. Instead, Dr. Zises brought baby formula she got as a sample from the manufacturer and insisted we use it.
Finally, she released us, declaring «Your baby could have an infection!» as a way to legitimize keeping us there. When I got home, my home thermometer showed both me and my baby had normal temperature.
Because of my experience with Dr. Zises, I spent first weeks of my newborn’s life anxious that she might be gravely ill — with no symptoms. It affected my bonding with the baby. I would not recommend this doctor to anybody.

Excellent customer service. Love it!

I’m pretty easy going, and generally, have never written a negative review even when I received poor service or had a negative experience. As a first time mom of a 15 month old, I felt it was important to share my not-​so-​great impression of this place.
I recently relocated from Seattle where I had an amazing Pediatrics office. Friendly, safe and fun environment.
I’ll preface my comments by stating, if you have older children, the issues I experienced may be completely irrelevant to you. However if you have an infant or young toddler, read on and be wary.
This place runs rampant with hazards for young ones.
The entrance is right off of a huge parking lot for a shopping center, and there are automatic sliding doors. My son kept running towards the doors and had I been less quick on my feet than I am, he could have easily made it out into the parking lot in seconds. why this place would not think of this (hello, pediatrics? take care of children???) is absurd. Very dangerous.
The exam room was the WORST.
1. the exam table sits in the middle of the room. a little one could so easily tumble right off of this thing. Why are the exam tables not against a wall/​in the corner?
2. Drawers upon drawers everywhere full of hazardous materials and dangerous tools. And gadgets etc. all over the room for my son to get into.
3. the scale where I had to sit my son to get weighed is right below/​next to the ‘hazardous materials’ disposal hanging on the wall! I mean, are you kidding me? How can they not see what a big no-​no this is?
4. the nurse gave my just barely older than infant son a small wooden stick to distract him so she could take his temperature. I was flabbergasted.
I think it’s also worth noting that the staff was not warm and cozy, other than Dr. Fong who I will say was actually very sweet. She should find a pediatric association more in line with her demeanor. I will not be taking my son back here again.

So, I’m a first time Mom, and admittedly, my son is the center of my world. I could not have done it without the care and love from everybody at PAMF Pediatrics. My son has been ill frequently during his first year, and I’ve never had trouble getting appointments. Even at 5:00 on Friday night, Memorial Day weekend, I got an appointment at 7:00 at the after hours clinic in Mountain View. I love that there is a nursing room for breastfeeding moms, and a «sick child» waiting area separate from the rest.
But most importantly, every single doctor, nurse, and even the ladies up front have been amazing. They really pay attention to what is going on with my child. I know that they have tons of patients, but they always make me feel like my child is special.