Nyu-Hospital For Joint Diseases

This review is currently of our on going expierence with NYU Orthopedic Hospital. I do not believe our safety concerns have been addressed. I encourage you if you are reading this to consider other medical institutions for your surgical needs before engaging in NYU for your surgical needs. Our family member had a total knee replacement and when voicing our safety concerns for discharging we advocated that the patient go to rehab vs returning home because of lack of accessibility and poor recovery conditions in their building ie multiple story walk up building and living alone. It seems the decision to discharge was made and when concerns were voiced impractical solutions were proposed. How would the patient enter the home? The hospital proposed someone to help them enter and climb the stairs. All 3 flights of narrow tennant style stairs. But this assumes they can post surgery have the endurance to walk up into the building, down a hallway the length of the building and up 3 flights of stairs with uneven landing. With no space to rest during this climb. In addition, we must have faith that the provided service has the professional time to help our family member up the stairs. With how Services are scheduled thin in general I do not have faith in this solution. How would the patient receive care alone? Arrangement for a home health aid was proposed but Medicare limits hours of aids and a visiting nurse must asset patients before determining aid. So immediately the person would be alone to care for themselves. When concerns about falls were mentioned we were told they would just have to call 911. The patient would be alone in their home. Newly post surgery and have to always have their cellphone on them to calm 911. Do you always have your phone on you? Who hasnt placed their phone down and moved around. In addition, who would be opening the building door and the unit door for ems? More then likely a door will be broken to access the patient at home. Does anyone have door money in this economy. What has been most upsetting is while we feel this aspect of our family members care has not been properly addressed by staff. It seems that the procurement and marketing team does have the time and effort to color coordinate patient accessories in NYU purple for patients stay. So if you value Purple chargers, toiletries bags and purple grip socks over whether your concerns for your loved one are properly address then by all means. Have your life changing surgery at NYU.

This hospital has gone significantly downhill compared to my experience here pre-pandemic. I was admitted for viral pneumonia that progressed into a bacterial infection. My first ER visit resulted in being sent home with a Z-Pak. A week later, I returned and was sent home again, this time with Levaquin. Five days after that, my fevers spiked back up to 101.6°F. A nurse followed up by phone and advised me to return to the ER. I hesitated because I had previously been told there were no rooms available, but she reassured me that availability was not an issue that day. Unfortunately, that was not accurate. After being admitted for IV antibiotics, I spent the first 24 hours in a hallway bed next to the nurses’ station. When I asked for a room with a curtain, I was told those were reserved for more serious cases. After 48 hours, I was moved to a quieter corner of the ER, and only after 3.5 days was I finally transferred to an inpatient room. That’s three and a half days where I was in a bright ER trying to remover from pneumonia. I never saw an MD for the 3 days I was in the ER after being admitted. However, the issues continued on the floor. I was experiencing dizziness due to low oxygen levels and was instructed to use the call button before getting out of bed. Despite this, staff repeatedly left the call button out of my reach. At one point, I urgently needed to use the bathroom. I had to climb behind the bed to retrieve the call button and pressed it, but no one came in time. I attempted to get up on my own, fell, and hit my temple hard on the table, spilling a urinal and my meal tray. It took approximately 5 minutes for someone to respond via intercom after I pressed the call button, and another 5 minutes before anyone came to the room—even after I stated I had fallen and hit my head. This delay in response was not an isolated incident. It was a recurring issue, made worse by the fact that I was on laxatives and needed timely assistance. Additionally, the 5 days I was there no one offered to change my sheets or help me wash up. No one even gave me any soap or a toothbrush. There were also serious concerns regarding isolation protocols. I was told I was under isolation precautions, and staff wore N95 masks when interacting with me. However, I was placed in a shared room with other patients, including one recovering from a heart attack and another awaiting colon surgery. Given that I had a contagious respiratory virus (human metapneumovirus), this seemed inappropriate and potentially unsafe for other patients. Overall, the level of care, communication, and basic patient safety fell far below expectations.