Shands Live Oak Regional Medical Center

A number of things to say about this hospital, both good things and some kinda bad things. For one, despite having the Shands name, it is no longer a close part of the Shands network. I learned such today on a visit to the ER here after an injury hiking at a nearby State Park. I asked the intake receptionist if they could access my chart using Shands’ EPIC electronic chart system and she said no, because Shands now only has something like a 30% interest in the hospital – another hospital corporation has the majority interest after buying out Shands, apparently. I didn’t get all the details, but the core difference is, they don’t have access to EPIC so your records here won’t automatically go to Shands in Gainesville (which is where my primary care physician is) and they no longer seem to use Shands/​UF Health doctors but instead have a variety of docs connected to their own hospital and other regional health care systems. So if you are familiar with Shands, as in UF’s Shands, this is a different game. I find their continued use of the Shands name a bit misleading, because the worth of the name is to me knowing they are part of the UF system and adhere to that system’s practices and use that system’s faculty and expertise. Not sure how much they do that now in Live Oak.
All that said, once I was in a trauma room in the ER I noticed it was very clean, modern, and well-​equipt. The nurse-​practitioner who saw me was very friendly and seemed very well-​educated and competent. I presented a wound to my thumb that while not horribly serious was complex to treat and not destroy the thumbnail and she did a good job and I was seen very promptly, also. The staff seemed well-​organized overall and caring, so for them I give four stars. Also, despite the small size and community focus of this hospital, they do have access to specialists such as plastic surgeons (which wasn’t necessary for my injury but was for a friend). They’re health care professionals doing a quality job, serving their community. But all the same, I expect a hospital using the Shands name to be connected with UF and to have access to EPIC and other systems Shands at UF spent millions on to make patient care better. If the outlying Shands hospitals have been divested from the parent Shands, let’s make that more clear to everyone.