Mussarat Tahira MD

Great professional doctor. My mother is very happy to have found her.

Doctors rarely get good reviews. I think it's because people expect them to be amazing, and only hammer out reviews when they're torqued about something. Well, I wanted to take a moment and describe what I saw with Dr. Tahira while sitting in her waiting room.My son suffered a foot injury and needed to have surgery to fix his problem. We found a top notch surgeon who could fix him, but he required us to have a general practitioner check him out and make sure all was well. Well, we moved to Arlington in 2020 and had not established a family practitioner for several reasons, the chiefest of them: Covid.It's hard to find a family doctor you like. It's really hard during Covid. Especially when so many of them wouldn't accept new patients without scheduling months in advance. Dr. Tahira was recommended to us because she takes walk-in patients and we didn't have to wait months for an appointment. So, without much information, we scheduled an appointment for the end of the week and crossed our fingers that she would be acceptable.While we were waiting for my son's appointment, I noticed the waiting room was typical for doctors who accept walk-in patients. None were driving Mercedes and sporting Michaell Kors products. She was seeing real people with real problems, not siphoning off from the wealthy people with top-notch insurance. And this made me wonder if she was a horrible doctor who wasn't good enough to see the wealthy patients. And, I'm sorry I had that thought, because it was very judgmental on my part. But, I'm trying to explain what I witnessed, and this is relevant to my review.An older woman from a minority stumbled into the waiting room and attempted to sign in. The young lady behind the glass tried to tell the woman that they weren't seeing any more patients for the day, and to come again tomorrow. The woman then began to have a melt down. She was not screaming, but she wasn't whispering, either. She was tossing around frustrated accusations about not seeing her because she was a minority and didn't have much money, and that she was hurting and needed help, but no one cared about her, and so forth. The girl behind the glass was very kind, but also realized the woman wasn't going to simply walk away. The woman was certainly "toxic" if you catch my meaning. She was angry and trying to get a family member to answer to phone to give her a ride to the nearest ER because the doctor was refusing to see her, but no one was answering her calls. So, she talked to us, explaining how bad her situation was. I was on the verge of volunteering to take her to the nearest ER when the waiting room door opened and Dr. Tahira came into the room. They must have known each other. The woman immediately recognized Dr. Tahira and began to cry, begging her to help. Dr. Tahira didn't yell. She didn't point at the door and insist she leave. Instead, she listened to what the woman was telling her, even though most of it didn't make sense. Dr. Tahira was very patient with her, and I could see she truly cared about the woman and her trouble, but wasn't in a position to help her at that time. She simply insisted the woman go to the ER, because Dr. Tahira was not set up to see emergency type visits, but was a doctor's office, not a hospital. She kept trying to explain that her office was not equipped to treat emergent situations. After several minutes, the woman calmed down and realized she wasn't going to get what she wanted from Dr. Tahira (I strongly suspect she was addicted to pain meds, but this is just a theory based on my observations.) Once she expended her anger and frustration, she collapsed in a chair and began to cry. Dr. Tahira still remained beside her, trying to help calm her. Eventually, the woman was able to make contact with her adult son, who came to give her a ride to the ER.Most doctors would not have gotten involved. Most would have called security. Most would have simply kicked the woman out. But, Dr. Tahira demonstrated true compassion and amazing patience with the woman.A few minutes later, it was our turn to be seen, and we went back to the exam room. Everything went normally. It was a standard first time visit with a new patient. Lots of questions, lots of charting. And she was equally as patient with us as she was with the woman.While she examined my son, I chatted with her. She has been in practice for about thirty years, and has a rather impressive background. She was born overseas (possibly Pakistan? I can't remember, because it didn't really matter to me), but she is very well established in Virginia. And there is nothing ordinary about her. She's not a "rent a doc" quality physician. She's not taking walk-ins because she doesn't rate high enough to see the ultra wealthy. I truly believe she is working with the people she loves, helping those who desperately need help, and trying to be the best doctor she can be to anyone who needs her help.

I see Daniel Emery, NP at Dr. Tahira's practice, and he is a wonderful, knowledgeable, caring and thorough caregiver. I am quite pleased with him as my sole provider. Antonia, the MA is also very kind, helpful and extremely hard working. All very much appreciated!

A friend of mine recommended her for my daughter who is hardto hear although my daughter has her own primary care but for some reason she was not available.Dr Tahira was kind to come for us and give us a special treatment .I personally knows a lot of physician and been to a lot of clinics but frenkly she is unique,my prayers go to her she is not only a good doctor she is also a very nice human.I highly recommend her for to go there

Dr Tahira is the most knowledgeable Dr and the most caring and a great listener, sometimes she amazed me with her sense of medical terminology, I'm so satisfied with her all medical treatment ,that's true you have to wait for over 30 mnts sometimes but if you think about it, that's what you have to get for a good Dr, just like you wait in a long Q for a George Town Cupcakes,we never complaint for that then why people complaint about the wait time, of course she is the best and you have to wait for the best in your life ??

She is very thorough and gets to know her patients. She will address any issue you have or refer you to a specialist if necessary. She was very informative and got me back on track with my health. She doesn’t just give you prescription for sleeping disorder and dietary issues. She will help you get to the bottom of the issue in terms of your lifestyle and what could be causing the issue, order blood work..... For example, She referred me to a sleep clinic. She could have put me on Sleeping pills. Don’t get me wrong, Sleeping pills aren’t all bad but in my opinion, they are good for temporary/short-term use, for example, a long flight or when on travel for a few days. They can cause other issues and dependency. I’m glad she gave me alternative treatment and it worked.

She has been an AMAZING doctor. Takes time to hear complainants, helps you holistically, rare to find such a good doctor in the area.

Dr. Tahira was my attending physician following emergency surgery at INOVA. I changed my primary physician to Dr. Tahira as a result of her extensive professional knowledge, medical acumen and empathy She takes a holistic approach to patient care, with extensive knowledge in a broad variety of medical specialties. In 10 years she has diagnosed with astounding accuracy before lab or xray is completed. She has a broad network of excellent specialists to which she refers patients if needed.

She is my 82 year old Mother's physician and has been an excellent primary care physician!

Dr. Tahira is a first-class physician with a wealth of experience and knowledge of multiple cultures and languages. She's a renaissance woman who cares about people.