Ria C

Review of RWJ Somerset

Very disorganized place, poor communication and la...

Very disorganized place, poor communication and lack of consideration for close family members.

My sister just gave birth at this hospital. I travelled a long way to attend to this exciting event. We are identical twins and are very close. I was introduced to staff and my sister tried to involve me in her care and discussions with the Drs and staff as much as possible.

After we came to the planned procedure in the morning 2 nurses were trying start my sister on the IVs. They were having a very hard time inserting the lines and my sister was in pain. After several attempts and seeing her cry I suggested they would try to use an ultrasound as it was helpful in the past. The nurse got very defensive, borderline verbally aggressive and told me they knew what they were doing. One of the nurses said I was hurting her feelings by suggesting that the way the were doing it was not working. It was very hard seeing my sister suffering like that while they continued pocking her. This could easily result in an injury. Finally after leaving my sister in tears they decided to call a nurse anesthetist and he was able to put in 2 lines quickly and fortunately without major issues. This was a very stressful start of the day and the whole experience got all family upset.

They failed to inform my sister that she was supposed to keep some tag for her bloodwork that she did the day before so that morning they had to draw blood again.
The staff seemed somewhat confused about all the paperwork for the iv meds my sister was getting that day and when they finally got everything figured out they realized they hadn't thawed the IV drip properly and it was painfully cold for my sister.

When my sister was leaving to the OR for her C-section we talked about how I would be notified when the baby was born. The circulating nurse told me that she would come out to inform me and show me to the nursery. I was in the waiting area for a very long time and nobody came to talk to me. I finally had to go and search for someone to tell me if the surgery was over. It was almost an hour after my sister was in recovery that I found from somebody that the baby was born.

My sister has a medical condition which they were aware of before the procedure and for which she had to be monitored. When I tried to inquire how she was doing the staff told me they could not share that information with me "because of HIPPA". Again, the hospital staff were informed that my sister wanted them to talk to me about her condition and treatment. I had to wait again for over an hour just to find out if she was ok after she was brought to her room. They would not even tell me she was fine and her basic vital signs that had to be monitored.

I am a very close family member, an identical twin for a fact, and I was excluded from the process by staff and could not even get information on my twin sister's condition. I am astonished at such lack if sensitivity and basic consideration. I don't advise coming here.

Also, the hospital does not look modern. They practice keeping babies away from their mothers in the nurseries. All babies, including perfectly healthy ones are put in the nurseries. I thought this practice was discontinued years ago.