Dr. Timothy Sadiq, MD

I will start this out by saying, we are lucky in the state of NC that we have multiple healthcare systems and surgeons to choose from. Please exercise your right to research who you chose to do surgery on yourself or a loved one. My family member chose Dr. Sadiq as their surgeon. However, if you want the whole package, good surgical hands, bedside manner, communication, empathy, advocacy, sense of urgency and understanding patients are in the state of vulnerability after major abdominal surgery - then my suggestion to you as a human & consumer is to take advantage of the surplus of great surgeons we have in our area and seek care elsewhere. We had a rough hospital stay at UNC REX with Dr. Sadiq & his surgical team during re-admission following a common complication from intestinal surgery. The communication between the surgical team members themselves & the nursing staff was lacking, disorganized & often conflicting, which led to significant delays in care. (Thank god for the nurses, they were angels). This lack of coordination not only prolonged my family members recovery but also caused unnecessary stress & anxiety. During this re-admission, my family member was in no capacity to have the energy to speak outright in order to advocate for themselves properly. I stayed with my family member throughout the majority of their 10 day hospital stay, & as someone who is VERY familiar with the interworking's of the inpatient world- If I was not present for most of the time to advocate- their care would have been delayed further. I feel sorry for those who are alone in the hospital during situations like this. We did voice our concerns about the delays in care & lack of communication between interdisciplinary teams to multiple people including the nursing staff, charge nurses, & a member of the surgical team. I also at one point asked for the surgical team to call me so I could discuss my concerns further & no one ever did. There came a point where my family questioned if we should pull our family member out of this hospital & bring them somewhere else. Frankly, Christina the NP on the surgery team was our saving grace throughout this time- but even after speaking with her about our concerns, when she was not working issues persisted. Unprompted, even multiple nursing staff members expressed frustration about lack of communication with the surgery team, & from the sound of it- it was not the first time they've had to deal with this issue. For instance, someone from the surgery team would come in & round about mid-morning time. They would discuss a plan of care for the day with my family member & then never discuss the plan with the nursing staff. Or there was a delay in time between when the surgical team would mention placing certain orders during AM rounds that were necessary for the nursing staff to complete important tasks to streamline the plan of care & when the orders were actually placed. So, the nurses had to chase after them to place orders constantly, as if they didn't already have enough to do throughout their shift. Now, we are not naive- it is a hospital, we understand that things take time, & we did give grace but some of the incidences could have been avoidable had there been clear communication across interdisciplinary teams. Frustrated on day 6 out of 10, we decided we had enough. We contacted the patient relations & advocacy team to voice our concerns, which is well within OUR RIGHT to do. I relayed the multiple instances & examples of delays with details, date/time. I was actually on the phone with the patient advocacy line when one of the largest delays was happening in real time. Had I not been present & prevented it from happening, a crucial part of my family members' care would've been delayed another 24 hours. After speaking with patient advocacy, the care was smooth sailing & thankfully my family member improved & was able to get back home to us. I know if I had not called, & their care was not put under a microscope, it likely would not of improved. THIS is the worst part. My family member showed up to their follow-up appointment (they were not alone; another family member accompanied them & witnessed everything). Mind you they have not been out of the hospital long & are still exhausted/healing from this large traumatic event that happened & major surgery... Dr. Sadiq REAMED & shamed them about the complaint we made to the patient advocacy team in the hospital. NEVER once apologized for the fact that we perceived their care to be so poor to the point of needing to utilize the patient advocate. Stated "Now I have to waste my time with unnecessary paperwork". He then proceeded to LIE in his progress note (we can see it on mychart DUH) stating: -"I acknowledged the stress of the hospitalization and apologized for anything we could have done better"- This is a LIE. -"I did admit discontent that patient and family wound use such strong language about me/my team to a 3rd party without even mentioning it to us" - again, we attempted to tell their team multiple times about the concerns we had but it got better AFTER we utilized the patient advocate. I would strongly recommend that Dr. Sadiq's team & UNC REX improve their communication protocols to ensure patients receive timely & consistent care. Possibly consider performing interdisciplinary rounds on surgical patients or at the very least involve the RN caring for the patient that day during rounds so everyone is on the same page & understands the plan of care. We are just in shock & disgusted at this type of behavior, lack of empathy & retaliation from utilizing a service that is put in place to help patients. The majority of the follow-up appointment wasn't even to assess my family member, it was to berate silence them. Obviously due to this entire experience my family member will not be seeking additional care from this surgical team & are hesitant to recommend this hospital to others. Our only hope is that Dr. Sadiq & UNC REX take this feedback seriously & makes necessary changes to ensure better coordination of care for other patients in the future.