Mercy Hospital Joplin — Local services in Joplin

It's hard to rate a hospital. Emotions are always in play and they cloud your ability to judge the facts. My dad was admitted for congestive heart failure. They started treating the symptoms and setup a time to run scans to look for a cause. After the scans they determined stent surgery would be his best solution for his problem. Surgery was scheduled and my dad was taken in. His question for the doctor was how likely is it that I die. The doctor told him about a 10% chance. I could tell leaving his room that my dad was afraid and feared that he wouldn't make it. The surgery went fine but recovery was were everything went down hill. Immediately as the anesthesia started to wear off he was agitated and not cooperating so the hospital did what they had to, they sedated him. The sedation was mild at first but they kept increasing the level because my dad was still being difficult. Finally sedation was to the point that my dad was no longer my dad. They left him this way for a while occasionally testing him by reducing the amount. If he wasn't perfect they just increased the sedation. They were planning on weening him off the next day but other complications started. As the complications increased so did the drugs. This reached a breaking point when he went into cardiac arrest. They reevaluated, stopped a lot of the drugs, and came up with a new plan. The new plan involved a ventilator to reduce the chances of more problems because they were using a more powerful drug for sedation. The next issue he faced involved his oxygen levels dropping. Ultimately this would prove to be a bigger issue. The next major event was truly the end. After my dad coded the entire staff worked on him for 30 minutes performing compressions to bring him back. They notified us and we all went back to see him. You could tell that staff was stressed. This situation not only affected us but it affects them as well. His nurse was holding back tears because the situation was now grave. Speaking with her an hour earlier, before he coded, she seemed optimistic about my dad's condition. After the first code the doctor on call sat down and explained everything and wanted to know how we would want to proceed if the situation didn't improve. Unfortunately it didn't. The one thing my dad feared the most coming into the hospital is the exact thing that happened. Where there things that they did that I will question? Yes it's in my DNA, but I also know that I am not a medical professional and I lack the knowledge. Ultimately I have to give praise to the staff in the ICU for dealing with a difficult situation in a caring and compassionate...

I arrived for a herniated disc on 3/16/23, around 3 pm, in extreme pain. I couldn’t sit down because of the pain. The only pain relief comes from lying down. I asked for a bed to lay on multiple times. I was told no, they have none. For 2 hours I limped around the waiting room in extreme pain, still being told no bed was available and to “lay on the bench.” I couldn’t lay on the bench because it was too low for me to lower myself to it. My girlfriend arrived at the hospital (who is a nurse in another hospital) and she made a phone call to someone, wondered down the hall and arrived with a stretcher for me to lay on. There were 3 employees who had to assist her in this process. They were friendly, helpful, guided her to a stretcher, helped her by escorting her through areas requiring a badge. What is sad is the other patients in the waiting room who were waiting to be seen were offering me blankets and other things to try and sit on or lay on for relief. I tried to lay on a bench but it was too low for me to get one. She made a phone call to an on duty supervisor and 5 min later, after 2.5 hours of suffering in the waiting room, I was finally taken back. The on duty triage nurse told my girlfriend to take the stretcher back, which she couldn’t since it require badges to get to where she got it from. But she did her best to get it back into the area it needed to go.

After being put in a triage room, no other assistance was provided. My girlfriend found blankets and towels in the counter and used them for a pillow and to prop my leg up. They finally came in to see me and offered me pain killers. My relief came from lying down and the pain killers help. Once service was provided, it was good but slow. The on duty nurse practitioner (Thad) was great and informative.

Kayla, who took me for an MRI, was extremely nice and helpful. Very caring to my pain and situation.

The discharge nurse, after shift change from the original triage nurse, was very sweet and helpful.

I came to Mercy because of extreme pain and the distance to the VA hospital was too great. I was given the option between Mercy and Freeman. If it happens again, I’ll try Freeman. I can’t believe how inconsiderate the triage nurse was to my obvious extreme pain from a nerve pinched in my leg to the point I was in tears in the waiting room for 2 hours. That’s not...

I am currently in the hospital. One reason I would choose Mercy is because I have heath issues that require frequent hospitalizations and Mercy had better food then Freeman. This is my first stay since Mercy ended it's contract with it's former food services company and started with a new company. The food is physically unappetizing. Looks, smell, texture, everything. And you cannot choose anything. They decide your meal/beverages and send it up. Also, I did not get to a room until late in the evening, I was in ER all day. No food was available except saltine crackers. So I waited for a breakfast that I was not going to eat because it was disgusting to look at. The floors are no longer provided soups or sandwiches. In conclusion, your stay costs thousands of dollars a day and they cannot give you a choice in food, make what they choose appetizing, make sure you have something to eat if needed, and you get to spend lots of money on DoorDash if you don't like the food. I will not eat things I do not like. I have gone days without eating. So thankfully I can survive if I have to wait for food from friends or family. I wish I could post pics. It's that bad. I gave a two because care is about the same at both hospitals but patient nutrition clearly is not a concern at Mercy. I am sending all my trays back. Hospitals in Joplin really no longer matter in choice as far as care. I have a current complaint moving through regarding staff arguing about not following my care needs a couple of months back. I got a card and was told it was still being reviewed. In Oct. Of 2022 they sente home from being inpatient. As soon as I got home I started having respiratory distress. Went to KUMed. Upon arrival I was immediately admitted to ICU and put on a ventilator for 6 days with doctors in disvelief that I was released earlier that same day. Probably will just gave to start going to KU anytime I am quite sure I am going to need admission. Freeman is about the same as far as actual patient care. The doctors who work in the clinics have been amazing. I love my Mercy Physicians in the clinics. They are wonderful and have never made a single mistake but the hospital can do a lot better if it wanted too. It used to be a really...