UM Baltimore Washington Medical Center

"My son & I arrived by ambulance, both vomiting & the care we received from the entire team in the Pediatrics Dept. & Pediatric ER was absolutely outstanding. For 5-6 days, everyone provided compassionate, attentive & professional care, keeping us together the whole time. It truly felt like a 5-star experience! Special thanks to LaLa (Peds Nursing Supervisor), Dr. A., Shanell (RN), Dr. Thomas, Janie Liang (Resident, MD), Danielle, Damiya Williams, the Dietary Dept. for the great meals & the nursing entire team who made our hospital stay exceptional."

"The ER experience and outpatient experience has been terrible. First, expect to get triaged from the waiting room now. I understand the lack of rooms and availability but still very unfortunate for people who are in terrible pain. Also should mention, the waiting room is filthy and the chairs smell like urine. My fiance came in with a severe herniated disc pushing on his spinal cord and was told he needed immediate surgery first thing in the morning. After 12 hours in the waiting room, we were finally taken to an ER triage room and were told not to eat after midnight. The surgeon, Dr. Solomon, comes strolling into the triage room at 10am saying he wants to wait until Friday to see if the disc will heal on its own. Mind you, my fiance is on around the clock pain medication just to manage this pain. We were very frustrated but what could we do? I will say, when we were admitted on to the 6th floor, our stay during those 2 days were great. The nurses and doctors on that floor were wonderful. After admitting my fiance and Friday comes, he has the surgery which went great. Dr. Solomon said the disc would have never healed on its own. We were happy the surgery happened even though it happened 2 days later. Fast forward to today, our insurance isn't wanting to cover my finances hospital stay because the hospital noted his stay wasn't medically necessary. Unbelievable! The only reason we stayed was because of the surgeon wanting to "observe him" until Friday. The doctors decision, not ours. So now we will have to fight with the hospital billing department to appeal the insurances decision. This could have all been avoided if they would've just did the surgery the following morning. Now, our next issue is the outpatient neurology department. We have the follow up appointment and told the NP that we needed paperwork to submit for FMLA. They said they use a third party company that handles it for their office. What was failed to mention in person is that this company wants you to pay $60. I messaged the NP asking for her to just send us the paperwork directly and she says she can't because it's apart of their office process. Just another financial inconvenience. I'm not sure how much better this experience would have been at another hospital but if you can avoid coming here, you should."

"Dont bother to coming to this ER. You can only have 1 person come back with you.All of the rooms in the ER, DON'T HAVE BEDS, ONLY CHAIRS for the patients to sit in. Never in my life have I been in an emergency room, at a hospital, that didn't have beds, so i had to improvise. This place is cheap and absurd. The staff isn't that friendly, the floors look like they haven't been mopped in years. The TV is so small, what's the point in having 1 in here."

"Lydia B, RN and Nicole F, LPN in the ED department are a true angels. During my recent visit they made sure to take the time to understand my chief complaint. Acting as my liaison with the physician, doctor Harold C Thomas MD, to whom is not an effective listener at all. He stands to learn a lot from these two regarding bedside manner and a review of past medical history and my most recent hospitalization . Although I did not leave the ER feeling any better. I was disgusted with my treatment by the said provider and not comfortable w/ his treatment of my. Chronic illness which leaves me in a lot of chronic pain. I did follow up with patient advocacy to report the incident with the actual attending physician in the emergency department . He read my results from the middle of the emergency room floor yelled the details into my room, without even entering, while breaking all types of HippA. However, the nurses made sure that I understood what was going on. Understood my labs. Both nurses communicated efficiently and asked questions and discuss what my follow up care plan steps should be. Thank you for being exemplary in your compassion and taking care of your patients . Please keep up the good work and dedication to helping others in our communities because it doesn't go unnoticed and we couldn't do it without you. Thanks for being on our first line of defense that actually hear out patients. 5stars for nurses 0 for physician don't go while he is working or ask for another physician"

"I had the absolute worst experience at this hospital last night. My one-year-old daughter was brought in for a stomach bug, and we spent eight hours (4 PM to midnight) dealing with medical inconsistency and unnecessary distress. The ER was packed with 40+ people, and while the pediatric intake is separate, the environment was chaotic. The real issues started in the back. After an initial finger prick, we were told her blood sugar was high, only for two other nurses to claim the first reading was incorrect. This led to multiple needle sticks on a toddler, which is heartbreaking to watch. To make matters worse, she was initially given sodium chloride instead of the dextrose she actually needed, meaning we sat for hours while her condition didn't improve. Between shift changes, we received conflicting information--one minute her sugar was too low, the next it was too high. At one point, she was disconnected from her IV for 45 minutes, stalling her progress further. The lack of communication and the constant 'trial and error' with a one-year-old's vitals is unacceptable. We were kept overnight for even more repeated testing despite her being on an IV all night. This was a night of total madness and medical mismanagement. I would not recommend this ER to any parent"

"Our experience giving birth here was great overall. We planned to go to AAMC but they were beyond capacity and their vibes were pretty off too. No place is perfect- hospitals are understaffed and staff cope in varying ways. L&D was exceptionally loud at all times of day/night with nurse talk right outside the door, but at least they were having fun and responsive. We had excellent care and were grateful for the caring nurses, particularly Gee and Anna in mother/baby. Christine in L&D was also phenomenal, as well as Dr Malcolm Stennet, an anesthesiologist. They all truly cared about our child's wellbeing and went above and beyond. Gina with lactation was exceptional. It was our first baby and unfortunately I lost my cool one night under distress after an offhanded comment from one nurse and rushed bedside manner, but in hindsight I don't think there was ill-intent. One upside is the food service, I actually thought the food was quite good for a hospital, get the Chef special. Also the bean rush cafe downstairs is a big upside. Transport for discharge was awfully slow, but again, you have to consider the context of understaffing in a world of difficult times. The elevators leave some to be desired for those who can't take the stairs. The rooms are significantly larger than at AAMC. Thank you BWMC staff for your care!"

"The ER and evening inpatient staff were great but the rooms were filthy. The room smelled of urine and there were hairs on the sheets, pillow cases, and through out the room and bathroom. What happen to good old soap and hot water? Honestly, with the way the hospital looked and smell, some type of cleaning product would be great but I understand the sensitivity to smells for some patients. The seats in the ER ans inpatient rooms have more dirt on it than not and it is sad especially since the hospital is dealing with sick and ill patients daily"

"I just had some serious knee surgery at UM Balt. Wash. Hospital and can say only positive things about my experience. Walking in to check in to surgery, the hospital is very modern, clean and spacious, with an attentive staff. The surgery suite was well lit with that modern, clean feel and I felt in good hands..Really nothing bad to say. Surgery, by Dr.George was long but successful. My stay in the hospital for observation was for a few days was good with a very attentive, professional staff. Every hospital has some bad apples but there hard to find here. They made my stay as comfortable as they could make it and I will come back for my next step in my process of getting back on my feet. Thank you UM Baltimore Washington Hospital...."