June P

Review of Jefferson Health Systems

I loved the nurses and the doctors, there are none...

I loved the nurses and the doctors, there are none better. My nurses, Tammy, Tanya, and Bobby were the best, very concerned for my well being and took great care of me for my entire stay. The doctors are friendly and they explain everything well. I had pretty major problems however. First, because there were no rooms for surgery patients, many of us spent the entire day in recovery waiting for rooms. In recovery there weren't enough people to help, there wasn't enough attention, there was basically no food unless you begged for more than crackers, and it took over an hour after I was awake to get something to drink or even ice chips. For spine surgery you're supposed to be up and moving, but in recovery you have to stay in bed. It was extremely painful lying in one position for what amounted to 8 hours. I arrived at 4:45 am for surgery at 6:45. I was in recovery around 10 am but didn't have a room until dinner time (actually missed dinner too). A kind recovery nurse went to the trouble to find me food but it was a dry sandwich and after having a breathing tube that wasn't going to work. My poor husband sat in the patient waiting room for over 10 hours and still didn't get to see me, so they "allowed him" to visit recovery for 10 minutes before he was told he had to leave. Also there's no provision for patients to use a rest room in recovery so I had to use a bed pan when I was supposed to be up walking around. Worst day of my life for sure, and only got better when I finally had a room and some nurses who had time for me (sometime around 6 that night). This is in no way reflecting on ANY of the hospital staff who did their best, this is a problem with the way the hospital is run. Recovery nurses are there to help you wake up and start functioning (make sure you're safe) - not to care for you all day because they do not have the resources. I couldn't have my phone or anything even 8 hours after waking up because it wasn't allowed. This terrified my mother who lives out of state and was expecting to be able to speak to me. Communication with my husband wasn't the greatest either, it was hours before anyone told him what was taking so long. If I was only reviewing the hospital this score would be 0-1, I gave it 2 because my nurses deserve the highest scores possible (5's). If you're going to leave people in recovery all day, TELL the family and make provisions so the patients can be comfortable while waiting for that long. People who have fasted and had a breathing tube and need food can't eat anything hard or dry, period. Again, not the nurses fault, they were all great but had too many patients down there way past the time they should have been caring for them. I was originally pleased to be going to such a fine hospital and I will never go back. Local suburban hospitals without the Jefferson name do a much better job of taking care of their patients after surgery. I wish I could rate the nurses separately from the facility because they were all fantastic. This goes along with a pretty negative post I did about pre-admission testing too. Overall I had a horrible experience and only your wonderful nurses and doctors made it bearable. I'm a person who almost never posts reviews unless something goes very well or very wrong - and even then I am forgiving of mistakes. This was no mistake, orderlies told me it happens a lot. UNFORGIVABLE treatment when a patient is going through something scary enough as it is. The only saving grace is that your employees are professional and they really care about their patients. Please give kudos to my care team.