Alexian Brothers Medical Center (COE) Hospital

Excellent hospital. Need more private rooms and bigger bathrooms. Lab personnel drawing blood samples need better customer service skills.

the nursing staff overall were not responsive. I waited 2 hours with a temp of over 102 before I received medication, pain medication was not offered as scheduled, I had to ask multiple times. My family had to advocate for me to get basic needs me, showers, help to walk, meds. The day staff, especailly Mary and SOne were excellent. But the others were unacceptable

I had 4 room mates in 4 days, and 3 of them were brought in after 11pm. One went so far as to have her boyfriend making noise until 2 am and then followed up with 6 visitors, including 3 kids that kept lifting my curtain at 8am the next day. But i would go back if i had to, the care was very good, and I knew that if i needed additional care it was right there.

My only concern is that the bandage around the drainage tube was not changed by the staff during my stay. It was placed on after surgery and was not even looked at until Dr Hart's nurse changed it on Monday. If I had been thinking during this time I would have asked about it .

Nurses were fine, overworked.
Don't feel instuctions after surgery were presented well, walking, eating.....
Told Thurs. I could go home, again at 8:30am Fri, and yet it took my leaving my room saying I was leaving at 5:30 whether the last doctor came or not! He did not! Was called, never saw me, yet prescribed medication over the phone. Even I know not to start Coreg, at full mgs. when off it for 5 days! Had physicians come in during my stay, shook my hand, said take a deep breath, and the stethiscope was not even on my back! This happened twice. Sat in a chair the last day, because once the staff heard I was leaving, no shower, no clean sheets, NOTHING!

I got there, surgery ran a little late which was fine. I for some reason was in ICU for an extended period of time after surgery and my mom was rather upset. I was so doped up and in pain, That was the reason I was given as to the delay. They gave me supposedly the best pain killer, even increasing the amount of dosage and the amount of times but all this was doing was making me a zombie and not taking the pain away. They eventually gave me a different medicine a few days later that made a difference. I noticed the hospital was clean and not funky smelling, the rooms were INCREDIBLE SMALL on the 6th flr which is where you will be and the air conditioning IS TERRIBLE! I asked for a private room even before seeing the rooms and my wish was granted surprisingly. The beds were horrible and the position they put me into during surgery is most of the reason for my pain! I broke out of there in 5 days (I had a revision)
But I told the nurses/PTC they were all great but I would not come back. They do not allow you to bring a fan either! I was so hot and had to have ice packs to relieve heat and back pain. They had large chairs but I did not notice larger beds. Oh and they had large wheelcheers. The bathroom I had was extremely small! There was no way an extremely morbidly obese person would fit. I barely did and I am 240, well now 230, 6 days later. The staff came right away when I called them which is a plus in my book.

I guess all in all, if I were a first timer, I would go to another hospital, if my doctor worked out of another hospital. Comfortability matters A LOT to me and i was not a bit comfortable.

I have not received the bill so have yet to give an opion on the overall value!

I had no complications, just a lot of pain due to the position and beds. One night at home and my temperature was down and fifty percent of my pain had diminished!

The staff on 6 East was excellent. I loved my day nurse, Laura, and day PCT, Luann. They were truly great and sensitive to my needs. Plus, they were very motivating.

The only complaint I have is the way they manage their patients before surgery. My surgery was originally scheduled for 11:30, and then was moved to 1:30 because another case took longer than expected (that didn't bother me). At 1:30 they came and moved me from Day Surgery (family allowed) to Pre-Op holding (no family allowed). I didn't end up going in for surgery until 4:30 and don't understand why I couldn't have stayed in Day Surgery until closer to my surgery. I could have spent that time with my family instead of having them wonder what was going on. At 2:30, I asked if they told my family that I hadn't gone in yet, and when they said "no", I asked them to call. Simple courtesy would state that they should keep the family up to speed on what's going on instead of leaving them in limbo and me having to request that they let them know I’ve been delayed again. As they were wheeling me in at 4:30, I again requested that they call my family to let them know I was going in and heard them making the call.

I felt strongly that my health was of primary importance in this hospital. I read a lot about people going home the next day from lap-band surgery but they evaluated my situation and co-morbidities and I was able to feel confident that I wasn't being pushed out the door before being able to care minimally for myself and be able to manage the pain effectively.

I was impressed by the hospital and the staff. They were very responsive to my needs and good about answering questions. They made what could easily have been an awful experience very pleasant.

I recieved excellent care from nurses Brenda, Maggie, and Pattie.