UM Charles Regional Medical Center — Local services in La Plata

This experience at the emergency room was, without a doubt, one of the most distressing I've ever faced. As someone living with a recent traumatic brain injury, the situation was already overwhelming, but accompanying my pregnant wife and our three young children added layers of difficulty. We arrived via two ambulances from a car accident in which we were t-boned that left our vehicle totaled, and the emotional weight was heavy. Upon arriving at the emergency room, we were met with an alarming lack of professionalism among the staff. The nurses, despite being “short staffed”, displayed poor bedside manner that only added to our anxiety. The doctor’s approach to assessing our injuries felt extremely lax. It was evident that thoroughness and care were not prioritized. I asked a question about a muscle relaxer he was going to prescribe me and he responded “that’s out of my scope of practice.” For instance, my wife had to explicitly request that our daughters be appropriately registered as patients. The staff only seemed to focus on one child even though our entire family had been involved in the accident, and we all arrived via two ambulances.

Communication was severely lacking throughout our visit. At one point, my wife and I were left in the dark about our discharge status. It was particularly distressing since she was still under care, still undergoing critical tests to ensure both her safety and that of our unborn child. Meanwhile, I was left to manage two sleeping children in a waiting room while there was little to no one else in the emergency area

One nurse, Larissa (Charge Nurse), insisted that I leave the ER room, which was particularly difficult for me as someone with a disability. I walk with a walker, and I have braces on my legs. The thought of navigating the hospital's unfamiliar layout while carrying my five year old daughter was daunting, especially when pushing my walker. Again, we were transported by ambulance and, therefore, had no knowledge of the hospital’s layout or where the lobby was located. To make matters worse, Larissa kept questioning me about my ride without showing any empathy for my dire circumstances.

I found myself increasingly overwhelmed. With three of my children sleeping on benches nearby and the lobby filled with security personnel engaged in inappropriate conversations laced with profanity, the atmosphere was anything but comforting. Also, in the beginning, once I made it into the hospital from the ambulance, I communicated my struggles stemming from my TBI, including sensitivity to light which is why I was wearing sunglasses. Transitioning from the dim emergency room that we were into the bright lobby only intensified my discomfort, leading to heightened nausea and episodes of vertigo.

The charge nurse Larissa also misinformed me that my wife would remain under care for an additional two to three hours, and that information turned out to be inaccurate. This further underscored the deficiencies in communication. I felt helpless as Larissa insisted I leave, as she says “we were off the board” even though the emergency room was largely deserted. I couldn’t understand why I was placed in a situation that exacerbated my medical issues. Additionally, my wife faced her own challenges after treatment navigating alone on foot through empty hallways and areas still under construction proved to be difficult for her, especially since she was only 24 weeks pregnant and had just endured a traumatic car accident.

By the end of our visit, even with the supervisor Meghan she did not make the situation any better and it makes it clear why this hospital has received such poor ratings from the community. If I could give this experience a zero, I would. The lack of professionalism, empathy, and care was alarming, and I fully understand why others would choose to seek treatment at different facilities in the surrounding area. This is not a place you want to go in a time of need. It might be empty, but it’s...

I would give this place negative stars if it was possible. I arrived at the ER between 8:30/9pm on 12/12/2023. I was sent by Urgent Care(MedExpress) because I have tonsil abscess and they needed to be treated immediately and aggressively. Because I had severe pain and could not swallow my own spit, nor could I eat or drink. They could close my airway, they could burst and cause sepsis, and etc. I had been running a temperature of 102. Mind you, the doctor at MedExpress was trying to call ahead but couldn't get anyone on the phone for nothing. Anyway, now while waiting, I had watched numerous people be called for rooms with the most minor injuries. I also watched people poop in the waiting area, throw and poop in the waiting bathrooms, and even more horrendous stuff. Also, the waiting room smelled like sickness, throw up and etc. While waiting, they decided to take blood and to attempt administrate a start of IV. However, after three painful attempts, only blood sample was drawn by the young nurse. Despite me telling her, that I'm dehydrated and very sick, just do the veins in my hand. She didn't do the IV at all. I was just felt like a pin cushion at that point because she also ruptured a vein too, that eventually bleed for almost two days. Now, during this wait, my mother had ask if there was specialist who can handle this issue and they assured of someone being able to take care of my situation. Anyway, I had to wait until 1AM to get my own room, where they decided to give me a CT scan (which took total of 30mins with results). By 2am they decided to get me an IV with morphine, a steroid, and antibiotics because they had saw I had two abscesses instead of one. While trying to administrate this IV, another young nurse did not heed my warning of the fact that it will be difficult to get an IV in my arm and that the other nurse had difficulty with the other arm. This young nurse decide to dig for a vein for at least 5mins before taking it out and having a superior do it, who got it in on the first try. They waited another whole hour to say, that they do not have ENT and that they were going to transfer me to GW Hospital. And they were going to get the paperwork and etc for me to check out. They also stated that the hospital will have a room already ready for us, when we get there. By 2:30/3am, I had finished my IV. Nobody had checked on us or nothing. Nobody came back with the paperwork or nothing. We ended up falling asleep, me in the bed and my mother sleeping on the FLOOR. Nobody came to check on us at all till I, called for help around 6:00/6:15AM because I had to go to the bathroom. So for over 3 to 4 hours, no paperwork, no discharge papers, no CT CD, no checking the IV, NO NOTHING! I came back from the bathroom to tell my mother, who was sleep on the FLOOR, what time it was and etc. Mind you, it was very painful for me talk through all of this. She gets up to find a nurse, to see why it had taken HOURS for my papers to discharge. She found at least 10 young nurse not doing anything productive, and one doctor running around. The young nurses were either playing on social media with each other and/or flirting with security! Needless to say my mother was beyond through and stated such to the staff of the hospital in a calm and respectful manner. As we checkout back at the front, the lady at the front desk, couldn't believe that we had been there for 10hours+ with such a serious issue, and gave us the proper number to call and tell our experience. I didn't get to GW till almost 9AM the next day (12/13/2023)!!!!!!!! The service at GW Hospital and the service at University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center was different as Heaven and Hell. Technically, my experience wouldn't have happened if they HAD THEY STATED IN THE BEGINNING, THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE AN...

If I could give zero stars I would. Every time I have come to this hospital has been for an actual emergency (as in drove there by an ambulance emergency). The first time was due to severe pain in my pelvic area to which the doctor played it off telling me I needed better pain tolerance. Come to find out it was a tubal pregnancy and the pain was from my tube almost bursting. The best protocol for this procedure is surgery; they cave me a chemotherapy drug instead to terminate the pregnancy. This drug did not work and two weeks later I was back because the fetus continued to grow and burst my tube. As I arrived the second time with EMTs, a nurse saw me in the ER in the fetal position crying from pain and flat out said "I hope she's not in labor because I don't do babies." If we completely ignore the attitude of this nurse, I must say it is completely UNPROFESSIONAL to say anything along those lines to anyone because you do not know the situation. I was then rushed to emergency surgery and they had to remove the entire Fallopian Tube because of the damage. In my opinion (as well as my OB/GYN's,) if they had done the minor surgery the first time, I wouldn't have lost the tube. The third time I came here was due to a second pregnancy. I walked into the ER because I had morning sickness that was so bad I had not been able to keep anything down (including water) in over 48hrs. Being almost 10 weeks along, hydration is extremely important. The person at the ER desk completely ignored the fact that I was pregnant and did not note it in my chart until I questioned her 2 hours later as to why I had still not been admitted or at least put on an IV/Saline drip to get me hydrated. Then when I was admitted, the nurse who went to administer the IV completely botched it and I ended up bleeding all over the bed and my clothes before she managed to bandage it up and administer another IV in my other arm. I then had back flow in the IV tubing that no one noticed until it reached the Saline bag (2-3ft of tubing full of blood). The fourth and final time I went to this hospital was recently. My husband was complaining of chest pain and having difficulty breathing. So to rule out a possible heart attack, I drove him to this hospital. They had a CNA administer his IV (illegal in the state of Maryland unless certified and a CNA level 2 from what I have read) and she did a horrible job at it too. When I asked her why the RN was not administering the IV, she snapped that the nurse was busy and that she could handle it. We then waited in the waiting room for three hours to be seen. I don't know about you but I find it ironic that they have a poster in their waiting room promising "timely" care yet we had to wait three hours to even have him admitted to a bed when he was having chest pains that may have been a heart attack. Even if it was not a heart attack, a nurse could have told us to ease the stress of not knowing so my husband and I were not sitting around thinking the worst. Finally after six hours of being in the ER, he was finally discharged and he didn't even get to see the Doctor! They had a PA look at him and a Physician's Assistant is no where near as qualified as an MD. When my husband asked to see the MD instead of the PA, the PA replied in a rude tone that the MD was busy and that he was basically as qualified as an MD.

So please, by all means, go to this hospital if you want a bunch of lazy, rude, under-qualified people to take care of you when you are in a possible life...