Neurosurgical Evaluations
of the Carolinas
Independent and Complex Evaluations and Medical Management of Cranial, Spinal, and Peripheral Nerve Injuries
Information for Patients Page
Referrals
A referral will be necessary to receive an appointment with Dr. Curling. Referrals can be made by your physician, your nurse case manager, your insurance adjustor, or your attorney. Be aware that if your situation involves a worker's compensation injury or other personal injury (following a motor vehicle accident, etc.), there are some pretty strict guidelines that must be followed in order to insure that the appointment is approved and successfully scheduled. We would recommend that you discuss possible referral to our office with your nurse, attorney, etc. to determine the proper mechanism for proceeding. However, if you do not have a nurse or attorney assisting you, or simply need additional information regarding the process of setting up an appointment, you may contact our office directly. Our staff will be able to assist you in determining what should to be done in your particular situation to facilitate an appointment.
New patient appointments
Independent evaluations are very common and may be requested for various reasons--often to get another opinion about the need for surgery, to address issues regarding your ability to return to work or your disability rating, or perhaps just to have someone review everything and give some fresh opinions about what might be done to help you recover from your injury. They may be requested by your treating doctor, an attorney, your worker's comp or disability insurance adjustor, or perhaps your nurse case manager. Irrespective of who refers you to Dr. Curling for evaluation (i.e., your attorney, "their" attorney, the insurance company, etc.), Dr. Curling will very thoroughly and objectively review all of your available records and studies, take a detailed history from you, perform a pertinent examination, and will then provide an objective opinion based on his assessment of your situation. Following your evaluation, a detailed report will be sent to the appropriate parties documenting the results and conclusions drawn from your evaluation.
If you are scheduled for an evaluation by Dr. Curling, you will receive via US mail a packet that includes a general letter of introduction as well as a registration form and directions to the office (much of the information in that packet is also provided on this website). You should fill out the registration form prior to your visit, paying particular attention to the medical questions (just do the best you can with the medical spelling--Dr C can usually figure out what you meant, which is better than leaving it blank). It is also extremely important that you bring with you to the appointment any records or films (the actual films, not just the reports) that you can obtain regarding your situation. If you have an attorney or case manager assisting you, you should coordinate with them to determine who will be responsible for getting these items together and to Dr. Curling at (or prior to) the time of the appointment. Please don't just assume that someone else (e.g., your nurse or attorney or fairy godmother) will take care of this for you--be responsible and check to ensure that this information will be available at the time of the appointment. If these items are not available for review at the time of the appointment, oftentimes Dr. Curling will be unable to complete his assessment and will therefore not be able to discuss with you his impressions regarding your situation. In these cases, the evaluation and report will be completed at a later date after those items have been received. It is also helpful if you can bring some type of photo ID that we can copy and place in your file, as this is helpful to Dr. Curling to recall you and your specific situation if he is called upon to review your file at some point in the future.
You should plan on at least two hours for a new patient appointment. During the first portion of that time, you will wait comfortably in our reception room while Dr. Curling finishes a review of your records and studies that you bring (or others provide prior) to the appointment. You will then spend an hour or more in the exam room discussing your case with Dr. Curling and having a pertinent exam performed. Note that Dr. Curling does not utilize nurses or physician assistants to gather this information--all of your evaluation time will be spent directly with Dr. Curling. He will then review any initial conclusions or impressions with you. Note that you may have your spouse, family member, or other "significant other" accompany you during the evaluation, if you wish. However, Dr. Curling does not permit nurse case managers, attorneys, or other such representatives to accompany you during the evaluation. If one of these individuals is present at your evaluation, he will be happy to meet with you and them immediately following the evaluation to review the initial findings. Note that Dr. Curling is not bilingual, and if you are not fluent in English, it will be important that someone attend the appointment with you who can accurately provide translation services (if this is an issue, the insurance company or person scheduling the appointment will often make arrangements for this, but you should confirm with them prior to the appointment that this issue has been addressed).
It is important to note that most evaluations in our office are "for evaluation only". That is, no treatment will be initiated at the time of the appointment, and Dr. Curling will not become "your doctor". Rather, he will provide an objective evaluation and will provide recommendations that you, your doctor, and others involved with your care can consider further. However, in rare situations, Dr. Curling may be able to assist with additional testing or treatment, though this would only occur upon request and only after everyone has had an opportunity to review the report of your evaluation and to concur with a plan of action.
As a large amount of time is blocked out on our schedule for these appointments, it creates a significant gap with wasted time and lost income if you fail to show or cancel your appointment at the last minute. For this reason, there will be charges incurred should that occur. If you find that you are going to be unable to attend your scheduled appointment, please notify us as soon as possible. You should also immediately contact the party that scheduled your appointment (attorney, case manager, scheduling company, etc.) if you determine that you will be unable to attend. If appropriate, your appointment will be rescheduled, though this will usually involve first contacting the party that requested the appointment (nurse, insurance adjustor, etc.) so that it can be coordinated with them as well, and will likely also require addressing the issue of additional payment.
As a final word, we would encourage you to relax and enjoy your visit with us. Although many patients enter our office nervous, concerned, or even angry that they are being sent here for an evaluation, the vast majority leave appreciative of the fact that someone knowledgeable and concerned actually took the time to seriously address their problem and spent the time to discuss it with them. As you should gather from the above information, this will not be the typical five minute doctor's visit--rather, it will be a lengthy and comprehensive encounter that will allow Dr. Curling to formulate opinions regarding your condition, while also allowing you the opportunity to become more informed about what might be going on with your own body and thereby become better prepared to participate actively in your recovery.
Should you have any questions that are not addressed in this website or in your introductory packet that you receive in the mail, feel free to contact our office via phone, fax, or email to request additional information.
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