MedStar Georgetown University Hospital

Awful!!! (Tenleytown location) We had over a TWO HOUR WAIT to give a NEWBORN immunization shots! To set the stage, this is the Grand Central Station of pediatric care with sick kids running around a huge, impersonal waiting room while you listen to babies screaming. I resoled to switch practices but as a new mother haven’t gotten around to it. Our last appt. was the last straw. We waited 2 hours in total for them to get around to giving our 2 month year old immunization shots. First we waited 45 min until I finally reminded the reception desk of our existence. The nurse who weighed her and took her measurements was pleasant and friendly but then we undressed our newborn, moved rooms and proceeded to wait another eternity until I again went to find someone to remind them of our existence. The reception desk told me to find «the nurse» — I am not sure who she meant as this is a huge practice with many nurses. In any case, the doctor (when she did come) was actually aware of our wait time and seemed very cavalier and unconcerned for our situation, informing us that they were short staffed and running behind. Sorry but it’s not acceptable to make new parents wait two hours with a newborn who needs constant nursing and napping. If you are running that far behind, alert people in advance or have the courtesy to apologize and let them know as soon as you can.

They saved my life.
I’d seen seven doctors before flying across the country to see Dr. Barbour. The facilities are undergoing a much needed remodel and expansion, so we took Über to the surgery center where we were escorted to the pre-​op right on time. The doctors and nurses, like all the staff there, we’re professional and kind. I have an allergy to adhesives they were kind enough to respect.
Sometimes it’s just not possible to have a pleasant experience while people are attending to your medical needs, or saving or life, but I can’t imagine having a more pleasant experience, where the professionals treat you and your body respectfully from start to finish. The staff treat everyone, including each other, with patience and respect.
The follow up care is amazing, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
They pick up the phone when you call without going through a computer «press this and that» and most of the staff is reachable by email.
I can’t thank the wise professionals here enough. They gave me my life back.

Great experience! From beginning to end. Just a few complaints:
Parking and TRAFFIC are horrendous here
VALET is usually the cause of all this traffic
Wifi is not good
Cell service is bad inside
Some sections are dated
That’s all, once again the service was so amazing here!

Can’t say enough about the tremendous level of care. Dr Paul Cooper, his staff of residents, anesthesia team, nurses, and therapists all contributed to a successful and stress-​free surgery. If you’re in need of treatment I can recommend this group and facility with absolute confidence for cancer/​oncology, hematology, and orthopedics.
Dr Craig Kessler and Colleen Kotb are exceptional.

This is quite possibly the worst hospital I’ve ever been to. Surgery was scheduled at 8 am and has been complete since 12. Seven hours later we are still waiting for a room with no projection of time. Everything is also unfortunately very dated and old. Wifi is slower than dial up and cell service is spotty at best. Parking is a nightmare. Deck is very hard to navigate as valet has cars double parked throughout. Valet was not present at Surgery Center or Entrance to deck or I would have used their services.

A glorified student health center. Teaching is what is most important to them, not patient care or privacy. I was ultimately in the hands of unlicensed and unattended medical students, and billed like I was seeing the expert attending physician, who was sitting in a room signing papers or reports (that they sometimes aren’t even reviewing until after you leave the hospital). I feel like my care suffered. After complaining directly to the hospital recently, I was informed that doctors generally didn’t visit or communicate directly with patients. That the students did, and that they worked with residents, and then the residents work was reviewed on a rolling basis by attending physicians. Needless to say, this game of telephone sucks. It’s dangerous. In my case, I never spoke with the residents until discharge, so the care was super disjointed. If you needed something like a few stitches or a minor routine surgery this may be your place. If you’re in serious health situation or being sedated or drugged in any way, go elsewhere or bring someone that is willing to stand up for you and be your advocate the entire time. Insist on meeting and speaking to your doctor, ask whats going on, agree on a treatment plan. If they disagree then leave, no matter where you are in your treatment. I wish I had.
I would never visit this facility again for any reason. I was denied basic patient rights and put on display like a panda at the zoo. I stayed at the facility for over a week without having anyone explain treatment, conditions, symptoms or test results. I was also overmedicated at times to the point I wasn’t functioning well, and I feel like that was taken advantage of. At the end of it, I was given a printout in the discharge paperwork from a webmd-​type site upon discharge, which had basic 100-​level information and I read in the car. Going to this hospital was kind of a hindrance to me getting the care I needed because they didn’t properly treat, evaluate, or diagnose me and kept pushing symptoms on me that I wasn’t experiencing while ignoring serious symptoms. I got the feeling there are a few common diagnoses there and that they try to push people into one of those paths, even if it doesn’t fit.
If you have to bring someone here, don’t leave them overnight. Get a second opinion or find a specialist through a doctor you trust. It took a long time for me to learn to question doctors but this situation revealed how simple and uncaring medicine can be in the wrong hands. Request and review your medical records, for me there was important information I was never told! I’d go to Sibley, GWU, Howard, or make the drive to Hopkins before I ever considered entering their health system again.

Wonderful hospital! The staff here are great & they really care about their patients. Wish I can go back & visit the nurses who took care of me during my stay for surgery. I would just like to thank them very much for their dedication & support!

Jim Vazquez, RN from the NICU is amazing! Came to C5−2 to start a PIV. Very patient and attentive to the family.
Thank you for all of your help!
From,
a very grateful C5.2 nurse

The staff from admittance to prep all the way thru surgery and recovery has adopted a culture that has Foster the environment that exudes hospitality, encouragement, support, goodwill. All things that exemplify true customer service.
They epitomize what it means to be a true servant of there industry. Most importantly they instilled those values that maintained and kept intact my mother’s dignity & self– worth through a Vulnerable time in her sec. Hip replacement. Thank you team GU…

The OB Team in this hospital are down right RUDE!!! Not everybody but most of the receptionist in every department. Most of the patients that come here are pregnant but they do not show respect or care at all. I came to my first appointment and it was my first time at Georgetown and the receptionist lady did not even acknowledge me and my husband for atleast 10 minutes. As soon as she called us, she did not even smile nor ask how we are doing and she started talking to other lady in the back about personal matter. I also came for my sonogram and the lady technician was very aggressive. I understand the baby do not move at the time but the lady kept light punching my stomach with the device and kept saying «c’mon baby». My husband and I looked at each other thinking if this was even normal.
This is my first pregnancy and do not know a lot about the procedure but I think there is a proper way to handle this situation. Also, each time I call OB department, 30 min hold is probably the shortest wait. I understand that they may be busy at times but they need to hire more people or atleast have an effective plan to handle heavy calls. I mean this is a hospital. And when someone answered they sound like we were bothering them. So far the only good experience I have is with my nurse practitioner and the lady that did the tour of the labor and delivery department. I will have my baby here and I am really scared that I might get a poor service but I am very optimistic.

Their billing is absolutely atrocious. Their rates are ridiculous. You receive so many different bills that keep coming months after your appointment. I’ve literally received ⁴⁄₅ different bills from ONE doctors visit, over a matter of 3 – 4 months. Don’t even get me started on my visit to the ER.
I have never paid for so much a doctors visit having had insurance, and I’ve gone to other Dr.‘s with the same insurance plenty of times. The fact that when you go to the doctor the hospital sends you a separate bill for having used the ROOM tells you what kind of business this is. (Yes, you will go in to get something regular checked out and they bill you a room fee, and not a small one, much more than my copay). Its just not worth it, I refuse to go there ever again. I now go to Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA. Half an hour away but I’ve never had anything but excellent service from them– both in their care and in that I pay one or two reasonably priced copays afterwards, rather than 4 different exorbitant ones.

This is for their billing department, specifically that of Dr. Kessler.
I am being forced to pay a $ 200 copay which apparently covered treatments once a week for 3 months after my initial visit, but wasn’t told this until now (5 months later which is no longer in that time frame). I visited Dr. Kessler ONCE for about 10 minutes… and already paid $ 40 for an X-​ray… and now have to pay another $ 200 for him to tell me that my finger was broken. If you cannot tell, I am beyond frustrated and will never be visiting this facility ever again. I’d advise that you also stay away!

This is for Pediatric Neurology, Gastroenterology, Developmental Pediatrician, and Child Life, MRI, Pediatric Sedation and the Epilepsy Monitering Unit. GREAT TEAM HERE.
Scheduling is easy, the doctors, nurses, and staff really care about the kids.
Only things I would really change from our experiences here involve the horrible valet (they scratched the side of our SUV pretty badly, and be warned — they CANT be held responsible for it!), the meals (doing something where food is made to order would really boost satisfaction! The meals were bland and gross.) and the ER waiting room needs some work.
Otherwise, this place is great.

This is for their billing practices, timeless on appointments and imagining.
1) every appointment I had with the hand and wrist group was at least 20mins to an 1 hour late. My 2^nd appointment I just left due to the wait.
2) Imagining didn’t give me a choice of what music to listen to nor check on me when I was having to sit still for an MRI. I had gospel blearing in my ears when it started.
3) I had to give my insurance information 4 separate times 3 times they called me 4^th time I had to call them and they still sent me to collections over a bill 100% paid by insurance.
4) once the hospital is done billing you their physicians group bills you separately and I had to give them my insurance information again.
Finally after 3 visits and an un-​necessary procedure I went to Johns Hopkins saw one dr for 15 minutes and was diagnosed, walked to reception paid my co-​pay and was done.
I will never go to MedStar Health voluntarily again.

I accompanied a friend to this hospital and was very impressed by the organization and working of the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
When you have a surgery scheduled, the patient’s cars have valet parking and accompanying family/​friends can park in the adjoining garage ($ 7 when validated). Everything worked on schedule. At every stageyou are well informed and the hosptial staff tell you all the details and add small touches like offering you free coffee vouchers, parking validation and of course WiFi codes. They have TV displays in the waiting areas where you can check on the progress of the patient using a patient number. Every waiting area has a check-​in desk and you are given periodic updates from the desk and a surgery liasion.
It seemed like the hosptial had put all the employees through a Ritz Carlton training program of «hospitality» Right attitude, humor and conversation and always willing to help.
Even after soending over 10 hours at this hospital I am not tired and definitely would have given the hostpital 5 stars if I had been the patient. I think the hospital is right sized because the nursing staff can checkin very frequently and provide care.
In the adjoining leavey building which is a hotel as well is a food court with Cosi, Starbucks, Subway. We had the Tandoori Chicken Sandwich for lunch.
While I hope none reading this review will ever need to go to a hospital, you would be in good hands at the Medstar Gerogetown University Hospital

I’ve been to Georgetown on several occasions in different departments, so here’s my two cents. My overall review would be 3.5 stars but my encounters with the surgical staff bumps it up to 4.
Psychiatry: I saw a third year resident the first 3 months I lived in DC. He was okay, but I switched due to personal issues about which I felt more comfortable talking to a female MD. No complaints here.
Surgery: I had a tonsillectomy in April and am a septoplasty and turbinate reduction in November. Until my tonsillectomy, I’d never had surgery so I was extremely nervous. They are great about running on schedule, as I was taken care of immediately from my assigned arrival time with no unusual delays – and treated like a queen! Only downside was a nurse who took 3 tries to find a vein before my tonsillectomy.
Shout out to the following surgical staff for being awesome!
Pam and Sheri, the surgical waiting room nurses
Pre-​op nurses: Melissa, Joanne (sp?), Fatu, Ann (2 of them: one white, one black)
Anesthesiologist: Dr. Vinh Ngyuen
Nurse Anesthetists: Shannan and Michelle
OR Nurses: Patrick, Ingrid, and one whose name starts with an S (can’t remember her name)
Post-​Op Nurses: Margaret, Brianne, Sammi, Mary, Elva and Deanna (unfortunately, I can’t remember the names of the post-​op nurses who took care of me after my tonsillectomy)
And of course, my AMAZING ENT surgeons, Jerome Schwartz and Jack Williams!
Sleep Center: I had a sleep study here in June to rule out sleep apnea. My sleep tech, Aly, was very friendly and fun to chat with.
Neurology: I saw Dr. Ishita Gambhir and NP Laura Xanders. My ENT wanted to rule out neurological problems for my ongoing ear/​nasal problems. My visit with Dr. Gambhir was fine, as I fortunately do not have any neurological problems. She referred me to headache specialist NP Laura Xanders to rule out headaches. Please do not see her if you can avoid doing so. My complaints about Laura were that she was not listening to my symptoms and kept pushing diagnoses that weren’t in line with my symptoms. Also, I had bad reactions to the meds she prescribed and did not help me. I only was able to speak with the receptionist who is obviously not a medical professional. At one point, I was told to up the dosage, which luckily I didn’t since I spoke up. The fact that Dr. Gambhir referred me to a professional who doesn’t listen and lets non-​medical professionals tell someone who has bad reactions to meds to up the dosage makes her look bad!
ENT: I have seen both Drs. Suzette Mikula and Jeff Kim. Word to the wise: expect at least a month’s wait to see a doc but do asked to be informed of cancellations as I’ve been able to be seen earlier. Dr. Mikula was a third opinion regarding nasal surgery. The positives about her were that she agreed surgery was necessary and she also found enlarged turbinates via nasal endoscope, which my regular ENT missed. She’s knowledgeable and has a decent bedside manner, but my main issue is her reliability. I went to see her for a second visit to discuss surgery and she never came into the exam room! I was called back less than 5 minutes of arrival, but was kept in the exam room for 1.5 hours! During that time, one staff member came to tell me that she would be there in a few minutes. I left after waiting for that amount of time and the staff was very apologetic. They even offered to schedule my appointment a few days later, but I politely declined. My regular ENT wanted her to operate on me but after that experience I said no way. I saw Dr. Kim in October for ongoing ear pain, and while he wasn’t 100% sure what was going on, he ordered tests (blood tests, MRI) and looked at my ears under a microscope – two things I haven’t had done. I appreciated another perspective from someone who specializes in ears and had not seen me before. He is friendly, though not nearly as warm as the ENT’s I see regularly. Because the wait is long and I feel more of a connection with my current ENT, I don’t think I’ll run back to him.

If they don’t kill you the first time, they have a plan B. Went to the ER with a broken ankle, it took them 3 hours to get it wrong and then tell me I had an appointment. Took an hour to get in, an hour to get an Xray and then an hour to wait for the ortho guys who never bothered, so a tech comes in and slaps a splint on a broken ankle.
Here, you have an appointment on Friday, they say. So I wait two days and here we are, my appointment comes and goes, no appointment, we’ll call you back.
WTF? I have a broken ankle, I went to your HOSPITAL and have yet to be seen by an orthopedist. I come for an appointment, as suggested by the printout you gave me and am told, we’ll call you back. Hello weekend with swollen ankle, no doctor and good luck.
Go to Sibley.

I’ve continued to watch the customer service as well as the medica treatment at this office decline for a couple of years now.
I’ve specifically asked to see my doctor, on the PA or nurse, on several occasions. The scheduling department will schedule the appointment, only to find out, once I arrive, I am seeing the PA or nurse. I have the utmost respect for PAs and nurses, but when I am paying a specialist co-​pay AND I’ve specifically asked for the doctor, I expect to see the doctor.
I’ve had appointments bumped more than 3 times in 2014, with little to no notice.
I have a very specific medical condition that requires me to see a DOCTOR at least once a year. This office is horrible with listening to symptoms, but QUICK to call in a script and medicate. I’ve actually had to stop my doctor, in the hallway of the office, to ask to speak with her. Again, rushed off. The wait time, once they bring you back, is ridiculous (more than 30 minutes). No respect of time, health or etc.
Good luck with your medical treatment at this office, if you don’t get bumped.

This is a long overdue review. I want to forget about my experience in this hospital, but really I have to share this to warn people. Here we go…
Event #1: I had surgery in GUH. The surgery went well but post-​op care was lawsuit-​worthy.
1. My parents waited for over 8 hours for news on my condition after surgery. Noone bothered to let them know. My father eventually barged their way into the post op area (tailgating a physician) and went by every cubicle to find me. He found me on a stretcher, in a hallway!
2. I remained on the stretcher for 14 hours post op. I had a throat procedure so I could not speak or demand better. We eventually learned that they had no rooms available, so they made me spend the night in the post op cubicle.
3. The morning after surgery, a nurse came by, handed me a towel and told me to go wash myself in the hallway bathroom. With only a towel??? Yes, they were out of wash cloths. Apparently they had also ran out of nursing care!
4. In the late afternoon, they still could not find a room for me so they just sent me home, even though the surgeon had told me the standard was two nights in hospital.
5. They told me to come back if my hands and feet started to tingle, which happened the next day. I went back to the hospital, the resident drew blood and sent me to the ER waiting area to wait for the results of the tests. We waited for over 3 hours and never got any results. I later found out that the results had been available quickly, but the docs neglected to let us know. I was feeling really sick and exhausted, and after 3 hours of waiting on hard plastic chairs, my dad took an executive decision to take me home.
Event #2: I was sent to the GUH ER after fainting at work. I cannot remember what happened at yhe hospital but the results of this visit are still plaguing me. The hospital got both my driver’s licence and insurance card at admission. However, they did not update my address in their records and just sent a 50 dollar copay bill to my old address. I never got a bill so it didn’t occur to me that I owed something. Later, I applied for a mortgage and found out that GUH had sent the bill to a collection agency. I had never heard from the collection agency either so little did I know. I ended up having a lower credit score and a higher mortgage rate thanks to the incompetence of GUH. And it will take 7 years for this to disappear from my credit history.

Not much to say about this one other than…
1. Parking is a B****. Don’t bring the Escalade.
2. The place looks and smells far more like a homeless shelter than a hospital.
3. The staff have a tendency to revolt from the place in herds. My sister and I drove from Stafford, VA for an appointment with a nerve specialist who a few days prior had taken his entire group of staff and left without notice. We received no phone due to use not even having an appointment anywhere in the books the leftover staff had.
Fail…