OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY (ENT)
For PatientS
We are committed to providing the highest possible quality of care to our patients, with compassion, respect, and sensitivity for all. Our providers and staff work together as a team to provide excellent, timely and coordinated care to children and adults for a wide range of ear, nose and throat disorders. Our specialty is commonly referred to as ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat), but is also known as Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery.
We are committed to providing services in your language of choice. We have staff members who speak additional languages, including Spanish, Tagalog, Farsi and Cantonese. If we do not speak your preferred language, video or audio translation services will be provided by certified medical interpreters.
Please refer to Our Services link for common problems that we treat.
Please see below for details about our clinic and logistics for your appointment.
Frequently asked questions
Otolaryngology is a field of surgery that focuses on the ears, nose, throat, head and neck. Otolaryngologists (often called ENTs for short) have special skills to treat problems with the ears, nose and sinuses, mouth, throat, voice box, neck, and face. They are able to provide both medical and surgical care. To become certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology, these doctors have completed college, medical school, and an additional five years of specialty training (residency). Some also spend another one or two years in fellowship, focusing on a specific area within ENT.
- Ear problems: hearing loss, ringing ears (tinnitus), ear infections, perforated eardrums, surgery to improve hearing
- Vertigo (dizziness)
- Nose problems: epistaxis (nosebleeds), deviated septum, nasal congestion or blockage, sinus infections, decreased sense of smell
- Dysphagia (swallowing problems)
- Voice and speech problems, hoarseness
- Sore throat
- Tonsil infections, tonsillitis
- Sleep apnea, snoring
- Enlarged tonsils and adenoids
- Tongue-tie
- Cysts or lumps in the head or neck area
- Tumors and cancers of the nose, mouth, throat and neck
- Thyroid problems including goiter, hyperthyroidism, and cancerous and non-cancerous tumors of the thyroid gland
- Parathyroid gland problems
- Facial trauma, including nasal fractures, jaw fractures, and other fractures of the facial bones
After you check in, you will be taken to a clinic room where one of our staff members will take your vital signs and ask you a few questions to make sure that your medical record is up to date. Next, you will be seen by one of our team members (often a nurse practitioner, physician's assistant or resident physician), who will take a comprehensive history and perform a physical exam. If you are scheduled to see one of our attending surgeons, the team member will discuss your case with the surgeon, and then both will return to the room to see you together; the surgeon may repeat parts of the exam.
Depending on your symptoms, you may have a short procedure to look inside your nose or throat with a small camera. Before this camera is used, we will use a nasal spray to numb both your nose and throat. We may also look in your ear with a microscope that has a very bright light. In order to this, we will lie you down in the exam chair. The microscope will also allow us to clean your ear, if needed.
While still in the exam room, our providers will talk with you about what your exam shows. They will develop a plan with you for any next steps in your medical care, based on your wishes and needs.
Before leaving you will have a chance to review after visit instructions with a member of our nursing team, and to schedule a follow up appointment if necessary. Your ENT provider will be sure to send a report of your visit to your primary care provider and/or the provider who sent you to ENT to help coordinate your medical care.
Please plan to arrive 15 minutes prior to your scheduled appointment to complete the registration process.
You will need to bring the following items:
- A photo ID
- Your insurance card
- Any medications that you are currently taking so that your medication information can be accurately recorded (it is best to bring the actual medications in their original bottles)
- If you have had any Xrays or imaging done related to your current ENT condition at another hospital, please ask our staff if you will need to bring copies of those Xrays on a CD to your first appointment. It is also helpful to have any Xray reports, but for certain conditions, such as fractures/breaks of the bones of the face, it is essential that we view the actual Xrays in order to fully evaluate you and recommend treatment.
CONTACT US
Make an appointment or get more information by calling the ENT Clinic Main Number:
PHONE
FAX
(408) 885-3018
MAPS & DIRECTIONS
The hospital's main campus is located off of the 280 freeway at the intersection of Moorpark and Bascom Avenues. The visitor-parking garage has entrances on both Moorpark Avenue and Renova Drive.
Free valet parking services are also available.
VALLEY SPECIALTY CENTER
751 S. Bascom Ave. 4th Floor
San Jose, CA 95128
DOWNLOAD
Map of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Campus
TRANSPORTATION
Bus 25, 61, 62
For Bus schedules and more information, please contact Santa Clara VTA Customer Service Call Center: (408) 321-2300 or visit their website. (http://www.vta.org)