Advice on how to navigate Kaiser Oakland's OB department?

I can't speak to the process of emailing with a nurse or working with a perinatologist, but I'm with Kaiser Oakland, just had a baby, and wanted to recommend my OB - Dr. Sarah Wilson. I think she's really, really great. I can't speak to her background with infertility, but I think she's a fantastic doctor. Also, if you're planning to deliver at the Kaiser Oakland hospital, we had a great experience with that as well. They put as much focus on me as the patient as they did on our baby, which (from what I've gathered in recent news stories about maternal care in the United States) might not always be the norm. 

You can totally request another nurse. Call member services at 800-464-4000. You can also make a complaint when you call to let them know how you were treated. You don't have to deal with that nurse. 

I go to Kaiser Richmond but regardless, you do NOT have to work with someone who is rude or disrespectful.    You should ABSOLUTELY bring this up with your doc at your first visit.  You may be getting a survey or two after your first visits with different docs so you should respond to it then.   I would ask your doc how to let someone higher up know about that intake nurse.   Good that there's a trail of emails.  Personally, I would make hard copies and find out who to write to in that department so you can give them that information.    You can also email your doctor right now and ask for a different intake nurse in the future.     I cannot recommend any specific doctors there but I've had great experiences at Richmond and have easily switched doctors when necessary but that took a little more effort on my part.   We joined Kaiser when my son was 5 and I wish we had been going since he was an infant---pediatrics is fantastic.   AND having advice nurses available 24/7 is a god-send with a little one, believe me!    I also don't know about birthing in terms of midwives or the like but others on this list-serve can advise you.   So sorry you've had this experience!!!!!  

Hi, the good thing about Kaiser that you can go to another doctor or nurse any time, even on weekends (I think on Saturdays for children if urgent!).   Just call, ask who's available, and ask to make an appointment with them (I sometimes ask the advice nurse who makes appointments if she's familiar with any of the doctors and can recommend one "unofficially").  And, if you like one, you can request to be assigned to him/her, and most of the time that works out, as long as their panel is open (sometimes they have enough patients already and can't take new ones, but even those have appointments available - you just won't be able to be "assigned" to them).

I LOVED Dr. Walton, who can only follow you through your pregnancy, and typically follows only complicated pregnancies (e.g., multiple births, advanced maternal age, previous miscarriages, etc).  He's the kindest and most professional and knowledgeable OB I've ever met.  I may have told this on BPN already, but he ran after me into the street when I already left to tell me there was a sooner appointment I really needed (long story, but trust me I REALLY needed that appointment!).  So, when I had my second baby, I requested him to do my amnio when I found out he was one of the doctors who performed it.  And then, during the procedure, I asked him if he wouldn't mind having me as "his" patient, and he agreed.  So you can do the same - have him or another doc do a procedure or an appointment, see if you like them and talk to them about switching to them.

Good luck!  I'm sure you'll find someone you like!

Congratulations! What a wonderful joy after so much loss! Both our children were born @ Kaiser and I wish you the wonderful experience we had there. I'm sorry you've met someone that is not a good fit for you - the truth is that you will have a series of people, all kinds of them, as you navigate this process. Most are great, some are not. My experience, even with my own GP is that face to face is the best time for questions if you can, email can be hit and miss as most of the medical staff seems to have a huge workload and not a ton of time. You are always free to ask for someone different if you are not comfortable, at least for doctors, for nurses I have no idea, though I haven't heard of seeing the same one every time. If you can, I would wait until you are assigned an OB and direct your questions to them. Your OB won't be the one delivering your baby, so it's good not to get too attached, but make sure that you like them and feel heard by them. As for L&D the staff is all great, we had the BEST nurses both times. No advice on perinatologists as we did not need one. Wishing the best for you!!

First, congratulations! I hope your pregnancy goes smoothly from here on out!

I had two children via Kaiser Oakland. You can choose your own OB, and I think the nurse you work with is assigned to your OB. You will be assigned an OB, but you can switch to a different primary one (thereby switching nurses). And, you can make any appointment with any OB, assuming the OB has an opening. For example, my OB was largely unavailable during my second pregnancy (she was teaching), so I chose to see someone else consistently instead (for consistency). You can research each doctor's profile online and choose from there.

Also know that is it is highly, highly unlikely that your OB will deliver your baby. It will be whoever is on duty when you're in labor. In fact, that person can change during your delivery, since labor & delivery can span more than one shift. So, you'll have whichever OB is on duty and a gaggle of residents. I must highlight that I didn't care about the doctor. The nurses that helped me through each delivery were amazing, tender, encouraging coaches and did all of the work. One even played block and tackle with the on-duty OB what was gangbusters to do a C, when the nurse and I knew a C wasn't necessary. The baby just needed more time to come the old fashioned way. The nurses in labor & delivery are different from the nurses in the clinic.

So, I recommend going to Kaiser Oakland's site and researching OBs that are accepting new patients and choose from there if you're not pleased with your assigned OB/nurse combo. If you like your OB and not the nurse, then give that feedback directly to the OB.

For the perinatologist, I think everyone sees one for the standard tests. If you need to see one more regularly, ask why to understand why your pregnancy might be more risky.

Something I did via Kaiser for one pregnancy was attend their prenatal yoga class once a week. The yoga was fine, but what I most appreciated was the community of women in the same position as I was in.

Again -- Congratulations and best wishes on your journey!

Ugh. Kaiser OB. I did my early fertility treatments at KP Oakland and Fremont and it was awful. They were unhelpful and not great with the bedside manner. No advice there, we switched to RSC and paid out of pocket. But I did have good experience with Gaya Moore in perinatology. She was warm and thorough and I really appreciated her care during the high risk part of my pregnancy (large SCH during my second trimester). Best of luck to you! I feel like there should be a special OB department to deal with pregnant folks after a long struggle with infertility, we enter the system battleworn. Congrats on your pregnancy!!!!!

Hi!  First off, I am so happy for you and your family on your pregnancy. I can see why Kaiser is frustrating you because Kaiser is generally good for uncomplicated cases. Are you looking to switch doctors? If so, what I like about Kaiser is you can easily switch to a new doctor. The nurse staff are attached to the doctor and so switching just the nurse isn't possible (from my experience with Kaiser Oakland). The OB should be able to refer you to a perinatologist - sorry I'm not familiar with those at Kaiser, just the OBGYNs . Happy to let you know who my OBGYN is if you're interested. 

Hi and congrats on your pregnancy! Don't worry about the intake OB nurse, and don't try to find another - you won't work with one at all during your pregnancy, it's just her job to ask you those initial intake questions in that one phone call, and then you're handed off to the OB at your first visit. So save your questions. Your OB's medical assistant will make your appointments for you, in the room, so that's the best person to ask about scheduling stuff. Just take one thing at a time, and they'll guide you through. Take the classes, go do the tour... just know that your delivering doctor (or midwife) will (almost certainly) not be the OB you see in the clinic. Best of luck!

Hi DreMama,
I'm in a very similar position! Went through almost 5 years of infertility and many rounds of treatments. I'm now 39 weeks pregnant and have been with Kaiser throughout my pregnancy. Honestly, I've had a great experience so far. I didn't have a great connection with the nurse I initially talked to on the phone, but really love the OB I found, and haven't talked to that nurses since. I wouldn't trip off the nurse, maybe just wait to meet your doc. If you don't connect with them, that's a different story. Switch it up.

Congrats on your preganancy! I've been going to Kaiser Oakland for almost a year (due in one month!) but I've been a Kaiser member my entire life. I'm wondering if you were assigned an RN as your primary instead of an OB? A few years ago I had choosen an RN for my primary but because of my various needs, I often had to also see a doctor, so I ended up switching to an doctor as my primary. Since I've gotten pregnant, my only interactions with nurses are for handing over the urine sample and getting my weight and blood pressure checked. Otherwise, everything is with my doctor (Sarah Wilson, who I highly recommend & she is accepting patients).

Or I've misunderstand what you mean by OB intake - was that the initial phone call where they set up your first appointment? If so, you will never interact with that person again! I would just skip emailing that nurse (who probably folllowed up with a routine informational email) and go straight to emailing your doctor, even if you haven't met her/him yet (you can also call the Kaiser OB number to leave a message to have your doctor call you: 510-752-1080). You could email Kaiser Member Services to let them know about the unhelpful nurse though.

My general experience has been that the people working for Kaiser are pretty great - the areas where I feel like they fall through the cracks is communication between departments (Medical Secretaries, Health Education, & OB). My best course has always been to ask/email my doctor first. And do give Member Services feedback when things aren't great.

I can't help you out with the perinatologist, so hopefully your doctor can. Feel free to shoot me a private message if you want to talk through challenges with Kaiser.

You can certainly request a new person although many of the Kaiser OB's seem to have someone assigned to them. If yiurvfurst appointment isn't great, I'd consider transferring to Kaiser Walnut Creek. The OB department is staffed by knowledgeable and caring midwives. I had an incredible experience there! Good luck. 

I am not familiar specifically with Kaiser Oakland but recently had a baby @Kaiser Walnut Creek and I also work in the health care field.  In general the way Kaiser does things is by team based care, so you likely will not see the same nurse midwife and/or OB each time you go to clinic, although they will try to accommodate that if it's super important to you. Of course they all have access to your medical records, etc., and to each other's notes so there is continuity of care in a sense.  Also, unless it's way different that other Kaisers, when you deliver, you will be delivered by the obstetrician and midwives who are on duty/on call that day, and not necessarily by the person (or people) you've been seeing most often in clinic. They also appeared to be working 8 hour shifts I think, which is different from some hospitals that have all 12 hour shifts. This leads to more people coming and going when you are in the hospital, but the people are less tired, which does have its own advantages. If you don't/didn't like the person you interacted with (the nurse or nurse midwife) you could ask to see or speak with a different person next time.  They tend to have a lot of providers, and it's not like some small private OB/gyn clinic or office where there might only be 2-3 people working there, so switching should not be super difficult.  Kaiser is big on prevention so they do a lot of patient counseling, etc., to try to ensure you have a healthy pregnancy since this tends to lead to less birth complications, and keeps their C section rates down, etc.  One advantage of Kaiser is it tends to be more affordable than a lot of other health insurances and/or hospitals. I only paid $250 for being in the hospital 1.5 days and having my son delivered, which is crazily inexpensive...

Congratulations on your pregnancy! I gave birth at Kaiser Oakland 6 weeks ago. My labor was long- 36 hours- so I'm pretty sure I met most of the L&D staff. Everyone, with the exception of one nurse, was really wonderful (and if she came back, I was ready to ask for a different one). So yes, you can always request a new nurse or doctor. My OB/GYN is Dr. Kristen Miranda, and she is really wonderful! I highly recommend her. She's kind, responsive, and had a very non-alarmist approach to my pregnancy that made me feel less anxious (this is my first baby). I switched to her when my NP got transferred to another department 5 months ago, so she may still have openings. As for the intake with the nurse, I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll have any more interactions with her unless you reach out. Once you have your appointment with your doctor, he or she will be answering all your questions, and you can call the advice nurse (which always rotates) with other questions too. Kaiser's system of integrated care is great and really easy to use. I'm not sure where you live, but I've been taking my baby to the Pinole Kaiser for his appointments- it's super suburban, easy to get to (I'm in Richmond) and there's free parking in a big parking lot. So much easier than navigating Oakland! It's really easy to change doctors through your Kaiser online profile, so you don't ever need to explain to anyone why you want to leave them. If you aren't comfortable with your doctor, there's no reason to stay with them. Wishing you the best with the rest of your pregnancy! 

I too went through years of infertility and gave birth to a healthy (although late pregnancy premature) baby girl 11 weeks ago. I also had many complications. I was treated for infertility elsewhere - there was a 6 month wait and insurance didn't cover it so I went elsewhere. I returned to my OB after I was 7 weeks pregnant.

Dr. Christine Cooksey is OUTSTANDING! She is also a surgeon, so I've worked with her in that capacity as well. She's direct and compassionate, so if you like your information shrouded in euphemisms she likely isn't going to be a good fit, but she is ideal for me.

Dr. Gaia Moore, as mentioned, is also kind and competent. I even know stories about her good work when she was at Stanford because of my relationship with Resolve, the national infertility group.

Both of these women consistently go above and beyond.

As for Kaiser Oakland I've had a long and complicated relationship with them and my experience has been excellent care and cumbersome administration - but I think cumbersome administration may just be what healthcare in America looks like these days. The actual medical care was exemplary and I felt well taken care of all along the way.

My thoughts are with you and baby, best to you both on this journey!!!

Congrats!  I had my daughter 15 months ago at Kaiser.  Honestly, I don't think you work much with the nurse beyond the intake, unless you mean the physician's assistant assigned to your primary Ob/Gyn.  I had one interaction with the pregnancy intake nurse and that was about it.  The rest was with my doctor and her PA.  You should be able to find out when you go in for your ultrasound.  I highly recommend Dr. Rima Goldman if she's taking new patients.  She has a good sense of humor and is thorough.  Be advised, as others have said, that the doctor who works with you during your pregnancy is not the doctor who delivers your baby.   They're separate departments/teams. 

One trick with Kaiser - if you happen to have an acute care visit with a doctor whose panel isn't officially open, you can ask them directly to be your doctor.  My experience is that they usually say yes, and have their assistant switch you over. 

Congrats! I've had two babies at Kaiser Oakland in the last five years and am a huge fan of their OB department overall, but you do need to advocate for yourself if you get a bad match initially (as you do at Kaiser in general). The good news is that it's very easy to do--you can change doctors online, and when I had a bad experience with one of the RNs (and am apparently not alone in disliking her, so maybe it's the same one who did your intake?), I simply told Kaiser I did not want to see her anymore and they flagged my record so that I would get assigned to a different RN (who was great). They do like you to have a regular RN in addition to your OB so that's important to do (and I'm not sure you can change that online). Read through the reviews here for some recs for good OBs--there are many there, fortunately, and we also had wonderful experiences with all of the residents (though they change, of course!) and all but one of the nurses we worked with during labor and delivery too. Two OBs I especially like, though they may not be taking new patients, are Erika Deraleau and Erica Breneman. I don't have experience with perinatology at Kaiser and you may not have as many choices, but for Kaiser in general, look for a doctor you feel at ease with, and don't be afraid to switch if it's not a good fit. Also know that you can sometimes contact a doctor directly to get on his or her panel even if they are not officially open to new patients, which can be helpful if you're looking for someone who specializes in a particular area. Even if the doctor can't take you, they may be able to refer you to a colleague who is strong in that area. Be sure to check out the Baby and Me group after your little one arrives, too--it's a terrific free resource for new parents. Good luck, and welcome to Kaiser!