Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center

I went there, in the middle of the night, with a high fever and burning urination. I got treated immediately, put in a room, given an IV. As soon as they determined I had an urinary tract infection, they introduced antibiotics into the IV solution. When that course ended they sent me home. The nurses, staff, and Doctor were helpful, pleasant, and professional.

I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy. A friend/​former work colleague took a fall at the Rio Center and ambulance took her to Shady Grove Adventist. Where to begin! First, i worked a decade in Medicine and my friend is a nurse, so we are familiar with what is and is not appropriate in the hospital setting.
The front desk ER staff could not have been more surly or disinterested if they tried. When you are allowed back to see the patient, someone barrels out the doors and barks a name and then impresses upon you to hurry. Despite our having introduced ourselves and asked to be alerted on her status, she was ready for visitors for quite some time before anyone notified us in the waiting area. It took them forever to arrange an x-​ray of her arms. In the meantime, the nursing staff tried quite hard not to set foot in her cubicle, even when she was calling out for someone to help her since she was slipping down in the bed and could not use her arms. They placed the nurse call button completely out of her reach away from the bed — a health violation there. While sitting in the waiting area, one can be amused by the conga line of cockroaches skittering past, unless the cleaning staff is out and tries to unsuccessfully mop them up before anyone notices.
After they read the x-​rays, she was diagnosed with broken elbows from the fall and was released in a makeshift straightjacket to keep her arms in an unmovable position. She entered the waiting room looking like Houdini prior to an escape. The surly receptionist insisted that she could not be discharged until she signed her discharge papers, which was an impossibility given that her hands were tied up in this straightjacket contraption, so we had a ten minutes tense stand-​off on that one before it was finally considered allowable that she could leave. The physicians and staff were completely unconcerned that she was a woman living alone with no family in the area and had no advice on how she was supposed to spend the weekend caring for herself since they insisted she could not remove the straightjacket (or have it removed as the case may be). There was no talk of arranging any kind of visiting health personnel or anything. The tech attending her for some reason seemed to think the entire situation was comical and appeared to be trying not to laugh, which did anything but inspire confidence in the service.
Then there is the parking. Even when going to the ER, one must pay to park here. There is no parking attendant to pay. You deal completely with a machine… one that on this evening was not giving change, so everyone had to dig around for exact change to escape this madhouse.
Now for the ultimate kicker! When my friend (the patient) goes to her physician who urgently works her in that Tuesday and she brings the x-​rays the hospital took, they take one look at them and get her out of the straightjacket contraption. Turns out the staff at the hospital misread the x-​rays, she had no broken elbows. She had two sprains. I have heard that this hospital has lost its accreditation once or twice, but after this experience as a bystander and what my friend went through there, I am completely astonished how they got the accreditation back at all. If any of us suffer any misfortunes in the Gaithersburg area in the future, I believe I would crawl as best as I can out of Shady Grove Adventist’s Hospital vicinity to avoid being taken there.

I am currently at the er right now. I have been waiting for awhile due to staff oversleeping (seriously) and decided to write this as I wait. I will be updating periodically until I leave.
I have been here since 6:15amish. When I came, I was one of only a few patients in the er (or so I was told by staff).
I was taken back right away, had my vitals taken, had blood work drawn, and met with the Doctor almost immediately. Then, I waited for the ultrasound tech. I was told at 6:45ish that the tech should would be at the er in about an hour. So I wait. Then an hour later, a nurse comes in to tell me that the ultrasound tech overslept and will be at the er in about another hour. So I wait. The ultrasound tech shows up a bit after 9, I get the ultrasound, then I get told that it will take the radiologist 30 – 60 minutes to read the ultrasound because they were «very busy in the ER now.» REALLY? Well they weren’t busy when I got here THREE HOURS AGO. So basically, I now need to wait longer because the ultrasound tech was late and slept through her alarm.
The nurse has been very apologetic. She seems nice.
The only upside so far is that I have been here for so long that there is now regular tv on rather than just informercials.
It’s now 10:30am. Still no results (been a bit over an hour since the ultrasound).
It is now 11:15. Got results– after all this they can’t tell me anything. They told me it could be something serious or very serious But either way I needed to follow up with my doctor. So glad I wasted my time here.
This whole experience has reminded me how much I hate Adventist. I would have been better off driving to Holy Cross.

This location is convenient thats the only reason why I am giving them 3 stars. I don’t know if the doctors here really know what they are talking about. I researched some things on google about my daughters eczema and they did not seem to know the what to do with that break out. They referred me to a specialist because this breakout was not your typical ezcema skin rash. Isn’t it a doctors job to identify these things off break? Thats what they are getting paid the big bucks for right? Its sad because I have heard stories about people leaving ER rooms with doctors telling them they will be ok when they get home, and the following day they end up dead. Not good! Please hire EXPERTS. Not lazy doctors who are not knowledgable of these diseases. And if you have KIDS? Be prepared to wait a LONG TIME! It takes them FOREVER to come back and update you with «results».

Not that I’ve had many, but this was the best ER experience I’ve had.
A few weeks ago I came in with a severe case of food poisoning (doctor’s words, not mine) and was extremely dehydrated. The ER was almost empty and my wait was relatively short. I was seen in less than 15 minutes and the nurses did everything they could to make me comfortable. They covered me with heated (HEATED!!) blankets and rotated them every few hours with freshly heated ones to keep me warm. The doctors and nurses also explained everything to me (in plain English, not medi-​speak) and made sure that I understood everything that was going on. I’ve had very bad experiences with needles, so I was not thrilled about getting an IV. The nurses demonstrated saint-​like patience as they brought the doctor back in to explain to me exactly what was happening in my body, why I wasn’t able to retain fluids and why the IV was necessary. I felt much more comfortable knowing what was going on and the nurse got the IV in quickly and with minimal discomfort.
Because I was in so much pain, I don’t remember most of the names of the doctors or nurses, which is a shame because they were all really a phenomenal bunch of professional women. My doctor was great! She was a fairly young (late 30s?) African American doctor with a wonderful bedside manner. (Completely unrelated: She was a mom of two. I remember that because of the charms on the necklace she wore with her kids’ initials on it). She was both professional and compassionate, which was tremendously reassuring. She made sure I was well informed (and re-​informed) about my treatment, and she provided me options whenever possible.
I do remember the name of one of the nurses: Sue (I remember her because she reminded us of her name each time before she left the room, and told us to call her if we needed anything). Sue did her best to keep me comfortable and really provided a level of comfort and empathy that I don’t recall ever receiving in a hospital. As I was waiting to see if the umpteenth round of medicine they’d given me would work, I began to get violently ill. As I started retching and heaving for the millionth time that evening (curse you, toxins!!), Sue pulled me close and she held me and rubbed my back until it stopped and the nausea subsided. I’ll be honest: I didn’t even get that kind of care and attention from my mom as a kid, so it was kind of surreal. Under those circumstances, most people would just hand you a bucket or a trash can and step back, but it meant the world to me that someone would to go the extra step to comfort me during a time when I really needed it most.
I hope I never have to make another visit to the ER, but if I do, I’m confident that I’ll be in both competent and compassionate hands at Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center.

Had to take my daughter for stitches and was very happy with the staff/​wait time/​care we received.

If you are picking this ER because it is in your network, beware. Not all practitioners are covered under the networks the hospital belongs to, and you will have no way of knowing whether you are being seen by an out of network provider until you get the bill. Until these predatory practices become illegal, watch out. This hospital seems especially bad about using non-​network providers.
In my case I was stuck by a company called «Medical Emergency Professionals» with a $ 900 bill for a 15 minute appointment and some stitches performed by a PA. This on top of the emergency room charges themselves, which were fortunately covered by my insurance, as I expected.
If you are not concerned about surprise bills… it’s an ok ER. Standard bloody-​but-​walking person weekend visit. Average wait time and competent care.

Had a great experience here one weeknight with a mystery illness. There was only a very short wait, competent and caring employees. They needed to run some tests to confirm diagnosis, and it was a little over 4 hours total that I was in the ER. I was quickly treated for pain so it was long but not a painful experience. It became more crowded as I was there, eventually filling almost totally up & it did not ever feel as if it was chaotic, even though there were some people, including children, with more serious problems than my own. Sent me home with several prescriptions, two doses of each as well as script to get them filled at the pharmacy, treatment instructions, referrals for doctors to follow up. When I followed up with a specialist (a top doc per local ratings services), doctor had the same Rx and was happy I had been given those because we hadn’t lost any days of treatment.

This review is a bit outdated as my visit was a little while ago, but I had to go to this ER due to food poisoning and inability to keep down liquids. I felt very dizzy/​weak and knew from prior experience that I was dehydrated and needed an IV (and something to stop the vomiting!). They took me to the back and gave me an IV with an anti-​emetic with minimal wait. They pushed fluids till they were sure I was hydrated and discharged me. The facilities looked clean and the workflow seemed non-​chaotic. They did not seem to make getting my insurance card and payment a priority over my care. Hopefully I won’t have to come here again, but of 3 ERs in major cities that I’ve unfortunately had to visit, this one was the best…

Theres a reason everyone calls it shady grave. This is the worst hospital I have ever been to. Waited 2 hours for results while in pain being ignored. I was put in the pediatric ward don’t really know why… and this guy with his newborn baby was screaming for help for atleast 5 mins before someone came. If it was something serious that baby could have been dead. Dr freedman (I think his name was) was extremely unprofessional telling me irrelevant information and seemed very incompetent.

I only rated it as one because I cant rate is as zero stars.
If you truly have an emergency as I did, go the extra few miles to the REAL Shady Grove Hospital ER in Rockville. The only benefit that you get from this Emergency Center is free parking, that’s it.
I came in around 3P on Saturday, Sept 6. I broke out in terrible hives that day for no apparent reason. I had never had hives before. I had taken 50 mg of Benadryl but that didnt stop the hives or terrible itching.
Waiting room was not packed. Maybe about 10 people at most.
Wait time until they took me back — 2 hour
Finally, a P.A. came in to check on me. She said she would give me a steroid for the hives, Decradon and a stronger anti-​histamine and left.
Wait time until nurse came in to give me the meds: 1 hour
The nurse then left with no instruction to me. I waited for another hour with no relief from the meds. I finally left the room to go out to the station to ask one of the other nurses to find my nurse. She said that nurse was on dinner break. She then disregarded me and went back to whatever she was typing on her computer. I insisted that someone come see me as I was not getting any relief. The PA finally came around and said the nurse would give me a stronger shot of anti-​histamine.
Wait time until that nurse came back: 1 hour
She smelled of popcorn and her hand was shaking when she was administering the shot. I actually did not feel the needle go into my arm, so I dont think I got any of the shot. I told her I wanted to leave. So, she said she would get the PA to write up my prescription.
When she returned, she had me sign papers but said I still had to check out. I dont know why she could not have discharged me right there. You must understand it was a long night at this point, and I was severely itching with no relief from the meds. Just absolutly miserable.
She showed me where to check out. I had to stand in a line in the hallway with 3 people in front of me, because there was only one person who was checkin people in and checking people out. Nowhere to sit. The woman in front of me’s baby threw up and she held him over the hallway floor and had him throw up all over the floor. So, now we had to stand in the hallway, with vomit on the floor. We called for someone to clean it up but that took 30 minutes. Wait time until I was finally able to check out: 1 hour
At this point it was at least 9p and my husband had to go to the Gaithersburg 24 hour CVS to fill my meds. I had been at the Emergency Center for at least 6 hours.
When I got my meds, one of the antihistamines names didnt look right. The PA was suppoed to write the prescription out for HYDROXYZINE which is an antihistamine. But, instead I got HYDRALAZINE which is a high blood pressure medication. I called the pharmacy to double check and they said this is exactly what the PA wrote on the Rx.
The next day I ended up back in the ER, but this time I went to the REAL Shady Grove Hospital ER. Total time there: 3 hours
I did show the MD at the ER the meds the PA gave me. He admitted she made a mistake with writing up a high blood pressure med to treat hives. He said she must have typed it in wrong.
Bottom line, I will never ever ever go to the Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Center ever again. I dont care that is a mile from my home. I cant wait for the Holy Cross Germantown Hospital to be built. Maybe we will get much better service there.

I have this place this rating based on my three experiences to this ER. Yesterday being the worst of them all. My wait period was over four hours. I understand that is bound to happen in the ER but nevertheless my worst experience here so far. The nurses are courteous, sympathetic and professional. The doctors are very kind and efficient.

A 3.5 star experience for sure. This location is an offshoot/​adjunct facility of Shady Grove Hospital. It has a radiology center and some medical offices next door.
I brought my mom who was experiencing sudden intense tooth pain. Due to upcoming severe weather, she was concerned that her dentist wouldn’t be open tomorrow and needed immediate care.
The check in lady did not smile once. It must have been a long day. The waiting room was packed. On TV was a forensic files type show examining murders… not appropriate for children.
My mother was seen after waiting about 20 minutes– not bad for an ER. The triage nurses were warm and efficient. She saw a physician’s assistant who was also friendly and efficient.
Checking out took some time as there only seemed to be one lady processing paperwork.
All in all, we were out of there in 1.5 hours with prescriptions in hand. For an ER, that is excellent.

I really do not know why they built this place! It should be torn down. If you think it is so convenient because it is right here in Germantown, think again.
My honey has gone here twice & it ALWAYS takes an eternity in the ER department, even though they are not very busy. This last time, she went up because she had a pain in her side. She checked in at about 1:30pm. We did a lot of waiting that day — she laying down with an IV & I walking around. While walking around, I could see most of the ER beds were empty. I wondered how long things must take when they DO get busy.
Finally she was taken for one test. More waiting. We checked out at around 7:30pm after they said they could not find the problem.
ERs have a reputation for taking forever, but I think this place is extreme. I can understand that there are priorities that must go first, but when there are hardly any other patience, why so slow?
I think it would be worth while driving the extra distance & go to a regular hospital ER (Shady Grove or something).

i had a horrifible experience at this facility. took my 3 year old son in there for stitches needed for a cut under his chin — his pedriatician said she couldnt glue it up so i walked next door to the ER facility in germantown. my pediatrician said i could walk in but the receptionist didnt believe me and asked th triage nurse if she could take us in coz «this patient doesnt think she needs to wait as her doc said she didnt need to»!
after going in, the other nurse said we need to wait –she was one of the most unpleasant ladies i have met. when asked how long she said she didnt know. when told my son was bleeding she gave me gauze to hold under his chin.
after some more waiting and a lot more crying by my son i walked outside the room (she had closed our door since the crying was too loud for them) and asked to give my son water — she said nothing could be given to eat or drink and she didnt know till when as someone had yet to come see him. the entire facility seemed empty so i am not sure if they only have one pa or what. i said how long would he be made to cry and stay hungry and she said she didnt know. i told her this didnt make sense and she said «u can either leave or stay in ur room!» this is the most inappropriate comment i have ever been told — of course i can leave and the only reason i am there is coz my child needs care.
we went back to our room– waited a long time to get some motrin and then some more to get the actual stitches (asked to hold the numbing medication for 15 minutes. ended up holding it for an hour!) and then some more (20 minutes more) to get paperwork once all was said and done. we were there for abt 4 hrs or so and it was the most traumatic eperience for my son and me!
i will never retrun there for sure (still blame myself for not thinking abt going to an urgent care instead!)
i have filed an appeal with my insurance and let their customer relations know what treatment gets meted out for the payment they expect!
i did end up calling their customer relations and they were very courteous. on recounting my experience John (the guy i spoke to) agreed that the statement told to me was out of line and will be reported to the director who will talk to the required personnel. He also gave me his direct number in case i needed to reach him and add anything else. in all fairness i wanted to mention this as he did try to make amends for what happened.
unfortunately when i went back to my pedriatician to get the stitches removed (on the day the PA from the ER said I should go back), on removing the stitches, the wound completely opened up. the stitches were complelety ineffective and the pediatricain ended up putting the durabond to hold it together. so for all the trouble i went though, the treatment i got, didnt work. i am going to report this back to them. my son has now ended up with a big scar and was made to go through this ordeal twice!