The Atrium OB GYN

From reading the comments you will realize the practice has deteriorated with time. Sadly enough Dr Haakenson and Henderson has stopped practicing and Dr Zimmerman is on leave. Not to mention the horrible office manager they have. I have been a patient for 7 years and I can only recognize 5 out of the 21 staff members, so a huge turnaround on their staff and loss of the most experienced drs. These are all signs that tell you something about the practice. The phone nurses are to die for and only 1 smart doctor left from the original group. But its not worth it to tolerate the horrific treatment of the front desk and office manager. more

Just had our fourth child and was thinking about all the good times I have had at Atrium. They have delivered all of my children and have been the most dependable, professional and unpretentious staff. I feel very comfortable in their care and always look forward to my visits at Atrium. It is what I think medicine used to feel like in a small town where everyone knows you and cares about you. Jill Barbour and Amy G. are awesome and nobody can beat Drs. Zimmerman, Alvarez, Beatty, Gray and now Dr. Breazeale. more

this practice charged me $40 per office visit ( specialist copay) when my new ob/gyn only charges $20 (normal copay). They never return phone calls and made the first 16 weeks of my pregnancy miserable. Thank goodness I listened to my other nurse friends and changed to Blue Ridge ob/gyn. more

Docs here are more likely to just zip you off to the ER rather than actually treat you and forget it if your case gets too difficult, they just terminate the doctor/patient relationship and leave you on your own. With care like this, even I could be a doctor.... I mean really, if all I have to do is play on facebook all day and send all my patients to the ER, how hard can it be....and if I don't like how things are going, I can just send a note saying I will not treat you anymore. Pathetic. more

After I found out I was pregnant with my second child and my doctor that delivered my first did not deliver any more I went here as one of his recommendations. I was pushed aside as a new patient and sat waiting for an hour for a nurses appt. after i went up to the counter and asked for my paperwork the nurses looked at each other confused as to why i was leaving. one thought my appt was at 130 and the other looked at her and said it was a 1. which it was at one and when i left it was 145. and i had arrived at 1245. they were rude and didnt even care that i was leaving. the woman at the counter was on a personal phone call almost the whole time i was there. and was bad mouthing another employee when she wasnt on the phone. UNPROFESSIONAL. Lets just say i DID NOT reschedule. more

The doctors there, especially Zimmerman and Haakenson, are two of the most knowledgeable and caring men I've ever met. But they have an office manager that is nasty, rude, inefficient, and gives the impression that she gets paid a commission for every account she successfully finalizes. She explained that if you can't pay the required amount immediately (not even allowed time up to delivery), feel free to get the hell out. My daughter has been devastated by the lack of caring, and had to change offices. To bad...a lady named Ruth can hurt the doctors...they don't get involved with billing...they just send in the pitbull...too bad. more

Good: The staff is great! They treat you like a real person having real experiences and not like the next specimen.. Other: I have been so impressed with this office. This is my second pregnancy. The first I went through another OB office in the REX medical center and it was a terrible experience. I left feeling extremely neglected and not taken seriously. At Atrium, the staff is wonderful. I feel like a person. The docs all seem to sincerely love what they do. I would recommend them to anyone, especially mothers to be!. more

I have had nothing but great experiences all along from annual visits to the birth of our first child. I chose this practice from online reviews in 2008 and because they were associated with Rex. I also found out several of my friends also went there and that was reassuring :)! Everyone was super helpful and knowledgeable and I felt in control every step of the way. I have never felt uncomfortable contacting the office with any questions or making an appointment for any concerns, and nor have they ever made me feel silly for contacting them and have actually thanked me for coming in and addressing any problems instead of waiting. During a prenatal exam one doc noticed while asking questions I had answered that my baby had been "quiet " that day- I was busy with meetings and running around and thought I had just not noticed movement. Dr. insisted that I go on a monitor just to check- and come to find out I was having minor contractions and was dehydrated from all my running. Dr. showed me what was happening on the monitor and told me to drink water, relax, slow down and check in on that baby!! Several times the docs here have listened and caught things in Q&A time that I thought nothing of at the time and could have ended up more serious situations if left alone. I highly recommend the practice, and understand there are some doctors that will fit you better than others because they are all very different. For example, both my friend and I were delivered by the same doctor at this practice on the same night- I was praying this doctor was the one to call back when I went into labor but she was the opposite- so it just depends on your personality type as well. I hate to see the few negative reviews because they did not have the great experiences I have had- but I have been to a few practices and this one I would recommend to anyone and have done so for several people:)!! more

Saw Nurse practioner Jill and she was not very patient or willing to explain any questions. I can do without 'tude. I saw the young doc not sure of her name and she told me I was not old enough to be having menopausal problems. If one can't sleep and they can track it on the calendar based on hormones, one has to question. She did not have time and told me to come back for my regular appt. Do you have time to re schedule? I will go elsewhere. more

I have been a patient at Atrium for years.I can't say enough about Dr. Haakenson. He is wonderful.I'm so confident in this practice I sent my daughter to them when she was pregnant with my beautiful granddaughter.All of the doctors were great. I'm still impressed with this group after many many years. more

I liked everyone there very much, but they aren't very attentive to high risk or older moms to be. I am 40, with miscarriage history and was treated as routine. I lost my baby at 14 weeks after 2 visits and 3 calls to their office. The visits were a waste of time IMO, as they didn't do an exam-just listened for the baby's heartbeat and then told me it was normal and they should go away. Within 2 hours I was bleeding and called the on-call doctor who told me to rest and call the office in the morning if they were still bothering me then. So, I tried to stick it out, but 3 hours later was on the way to ER in full labor and I lost the baby. I feel that I should have had closer care given my history and will be looking for another OB for my next try. But I think if you are low-risk, they are a great bunch of doctors. more

The only doctor I can strongly recommend from this practice is Dr. Zimmerman. But if you are considering pregnancy he will probably not be the doctor during your delivery as there is several doctors at Atrium OB and they are on schedule. I wished I had him but the day of my delivery it was Dr. Henderson and I had a bad experience. Dr. Henderson is very impersonal, albeit skilled but impersonal and I had a horrible nurse in the delivery unit at Rex and he didn't do anything to help, not even asked how I was feeling. The nurse I had on REx treated me poorly, she was totally uncaring and I felt she just wanted to rush me out of there. She shut down the epidural when I fully dilated and I was in excruciating pain for the 3 hours I was pushing it was the most horrible thing ever. All the way she forced me to push when evidently my body was not ready. This is appalling medical practice an shame for the Rex hospital and Dr. Henderson for allowing this to happen. I'm so traumatized by this experience I'm not going to this place ever again, nor I will ever deliver again in REX. more

I switched to this pratice on the advice of my physician after numerous bad experiences with Obgyn doctors (Blue Ridge obgyn and midcarolina obgyn - seriously I should have sued both). Read my reviews for them. Atrium nurses, staff, and doctors have all been exceptionally patient, informative, and sensitive. Being diabetic should involve serious care which is what this office gave me. They sent me to Duke Perinatal twice so far for second opinions and advice on the insulin and dosage. The nurses have been great also, listening to my worries and taking my concerns seriously. This will be my first child if everything goes well. Mostly I have seen Dr. Alvarez, who has been excellent, great manners, and pleasant personality. The downside is that there are long waits, but on most of these times they took in emergency cases as walk in (miscarriages). Knowing that they give immediate care and consultation to those women gives me affirmation that they are doing everything in their power to care for women. more

Atrium was recommended to me by a lactation consultant that works at Rex, and with the practice. She told me that, hands down, they are the best and most experienced group in Raleigh. All of the doctors are unique, and very special. I recommend this group to all of my girlfriends. more

I have been seeing Atrium Ob Gyn since I became pregnant with my first child several years ago and have been pleased with every aspect of the practice. The staff is very professional, but they also are friendly and compassionate. With each visit I have been confident that I have received the best care possible. I have now had two c-section deliveries and have been pleased with the care I received during and after these procedures. I would recommend this practice to everyone. more

If you are looking for an OBGYN, you may want to consider the Atrium. They delivered our second daughter, so our comparison is to the group that delivered our first. This group is miles above our first. We had three "two alarms", with braxton hicks contractions so bad, we knew the baby was coming. We were wrong. They were very understanding. They didn't make us feel foolish for rushing to the hospital prematurely, and they explained everything that was going to happen in comprehensible layman's terms. The doctor who actually delivered our daughter had to make extremely complex, immediate decisions, and he did so with clarity and sound judgment, averting a potential fatal situation for our baby. Watch our for the billing lady, though. She's a stickler, and she misses payments sometimes, and yells at you for things outside of your control (like when your payments do or don't show up in their computer). But the doctors are great, and your baby will be delivered into good hands. more