Select Specialty Hospital - Madison — Local services in Madison

Our Dad, an 80 year-old diabetic, had Cardiac Arrest caused by an insulin injection into a vein. CPR was performed for 10 minutes followed by transfer to UW Hospital Madison. CPR caused 13 broken ribs and cracked sternum, breathing issues ensued from lung damage and broken ribs resulting in intubation. Intubation was required for breathing support for the ribs fractures and also for the pneumonia that ensued. After 2 weeks the intubation was replaced with a tracheostomy and he remained in ICU at the UW Hospital for 6 weeks. Needless to say, he was in pretty rough shape.

When the UW Hospital suggested that he was ready to move to a longer-term facility we were apprehensive about going to Select Specialty Hospital (Select) because we thought the UW Hospital was the best place to recover from the injuries and we were not thrilled with some of the older reviews on Select. Actually quite the opposite proved to be true, not only did he recover much faster at Select through the excellent care, he really liked it there which sped his recovery even more. Within 2 weeks at Select he was weaned off the Tracheostomy and prepared with some light OT, PT and Speech to be moved to the UW Rehab hospital. Having gone through this experience we learned that while a hospital like UW is an excellent place for life-saving treatment and medical procedures, a long-term hospital like Select is much better suited for recovery and preparation for the next steps to a rehab or nursing facility.

Our case worker Kathleen Dibble did a great job setting expectations, coordinating with all the care teams through WebEx video chat to discuss medical conditions, PT/OT/Speech, Diet, Pharmacy, Respiratory, Nursing. In addition Kathleen was very responsive to handling the few bumps in the road in the beginning. After a conversation with Monica Gunderson, the CEO of Select, the PT team also bumped him from 2 days of PT to 5 days of PT which significantly sped up the recovery process. Like any hospital you as an advocate have to communicate with the hospital to let them know about the person they are treating. They don’t know their normal behaviors, likes/dislikes, motivations, triggers, etc… So if you want a good experience plan on some participation and communication. Select was a great experience for us and would highly recommend them to anyone considering a long-term facility for post...

The bedside staff here are extremely caring and trying their best to provide excellent service. However, you should be aware that staffing ratios are extremely unsafe. By their nature, patients who are admitted to this hospital are extremely ill and very vulnerable, requiring high levels of services. Despite this, they often have 5 patients to 1 nurse, even if half of those patients are on ventilators. They often have 8+ patients to 1 CNA, even if none of those patients can go to the bathroom by themselves. And the respiratory therapists are lucky if they only have 8 ventilated patients each. Physicians often work up to two weeks of 12-hour shifts with no days off (I saw one doc work an entire month once!)

These ratios are clearly unsafe and poor staff:patient ratios have been proven to result in accidents and injuries by many studies. However, since there is no federal (or Wisconsin state) law that sets minimum staffing ratios, the large parent company of Select Specialties cannot be legally forced to increase their staffing levels. That’s the glory of for-profit medicine!

I’ve interacted with at least four different Select hospitals in two different states during my 15 years as paramedic and a nurse, and they all exhibit the same callous disregard for safe staff:patient ratios.

My advice? Get your care at a hospital with a union. That way if the staff is being forced to work under unsafe conditions, they can go on strike and make sure everyone knows about. At Select, they’ll just keep on talking about their “commitment to quality care!” while continuing to staff at a bare-bones level and blaming every single outside thing they possibly can, instead of taking responsibility for their own choices.

And since Select views poor social media reviews as a “quality incident” I’m sure some poor sucker in HR will be responding to this with some sappy nonsense about how concerned they are to hear it, blah blah blah. I won’t be responding. If you are a patient or have a loved one here, you can figure out how devoted to change they are simply by asking each staff member who comes into the room how many patients they have. Then decide for yourself if...

After spending over 3 months at UW Madison ICU TLC Unit and 10 days in their intermediate care Covid floor I was finally released to Select. Grateful to the incredible people at UW for saving my life I was nervous about being transferred into the unknown. I was bedridden and on 8 liters of O2 with a trach. Covid had taken it's toll on my body being in an induced coma for 2 months so much of my body didn't work properly. My first memory of Select was arriving to the 4th floor by elevator and the nice EMTs wheeling my gurney into the hallway. A very welcoming gentleman with a computer on a cart wheeled up to me and introduced himself. He immediately put me at ease. He explained he would be checking me in and getting me settled. I admit I was scared leaving UW being so weak and so sick, I wasn't sure I was ready or healthy enough to be going anywhere. I could go on and on about everything Select did for me and my family so I will just break it down. In the 3 weeks I spent there they managed to have me walking in the hallways, reduced my O2 from 8 liters to 4, Removed all IVs and Pic Lines, Removed my Track and had me on a nose canula. These were all huge hurdles for me. I refer to my Nurses and PTs, RTs and OTs as my Select Angels. They welcomed my family visits (something during Covid I couldn't have at UW) which meant the world to me. I have to give props to the cafeteria as well. The food was delicious and the person coming by to take the orders and help you through the decision process was a big help. This isn't typical hospital food. It was a highlight of my stay there. Finally my Caseworker Sam was an amazing and compassionate friend throughout my stay. She understood my desire to get home and did so much to get me there. You won't go wrong by choosing Select. Nothing is perfect especially when you are as sick as I was and away from home for so long but they understood and made it the best for me they could. They will forever be in our thoughts and prayers. My...