Novant Health Matthews Medical Center — Local services in Matthews

If I could leave a 0-star rating I would. I was involuntarily admitted because of psychiatric reasons, despite my therapist, partner, and myself expressing that was not necessary. The sitters were mostly horrible, the 1st one joked with a coworker about him being 'schizo'. I was admitted shortly after noon and told I would be getting lunch soon, but instead the hospital forgot about me and after 6pm when I asked for some food, I was informed the cafeteria was closed. I was offered a half can of chicken noodle soup that was heated up in a urine/bedpan container. The 2nd sitter was somehow even worse. I asked to take a shower and after waiting for over 30 minutes was told to follow my sitter who had no idea where to go. She also did not check the room before I went in. I saw a few things: a giant string connected to the wall, the shower head broken off of the bar, leaving behind 2 incredibly sharp plastic pieces, and the showerhead itself, attached to a long flexible pipe. Now, keep in mind they admitted me because they declared me a danger to myself. I could have used any one of those to do serious harm to myself. I showed the broken showerhead to the sitter who asking me why I didn't just hold up the showerhead since it could no longer be attached to the wall. I said no, I do not want to hold up the showerhead and instead just wouldn't shower. That made her very mad. Later that night, around 11pm I asked her if they had any sound machines. She had been talking in normal or slightly elevated volume to the sitter down the hall all night and therefore I could not sleep. I guess that was a ludicrous request as I then watched and listened as she talked shit about me to a nurse. She mocked me, mimicked me, and explained how crazy and needy I was for asking these things. I saw 2 psychiatrists through zoom calls. The first refused to listen to me and told me to 'just comply' after I told her that I would be much more comfortable and get better rest in my own space. I was told they were keeping me overnight, not because I was a danger to myself or others, but to stabilize my medication. Which was psychiatric and not given to me until around 11pm. Psychiatric meds take weeks if not months to actually reach their potential and 'stabilize' so when I pointed that out it made the psychiatrist even more mad and I was told I had no choice in the matter and would be staying overnight. In the morning, despite meeting with a different psychiatrist shortly after 8:30am who agreed to discharge me, I was not discharged until after 12pm. I understand that orders take time to go through everyone, however, prior to all of this I had an appointment scheduled to discuss what higher level of treatment I should be looking for. Because of this visit and specifically the discharge taking so long to go through I was unable to see her and therefore finding and beginning treatment was pushed back even further. During my almost 24 hr hold there I saw no therapist, was offered no psychiatric support aside from the medication, and was in general just held in an empty room. It was not at all a safe or even a safer environment for me to be in. There were numerous ways and things I could have used to harm myself, and, having none of my coping tools or person belongings made everything even worse. Overall, this was the worst experience I've ever had, including 2 involuntary admissions in my teenage years. This is not a safe environment; someone is going to get hurt and it will be the fault of the hospital and negligent staff. Something that was supposed to help me has instead traumatized me in so many ways. It will take years for me to even consider going to an ER again, and I will never be returning to this hospital, ER...

Took my mom into ER for treatment for a UTI. 3x in less than a month. First time was incredible experience with hospitalist, Dr. Miller. Even the Chaplain and Nursing staff fantastic. She was discharged with 2days antibiotic before lab results on specific bacteria. So we can only assume the UTI came back because specific bacteria not targeted. So within a week we were back at Novant Matthews ER. 3nd experience not as great as first but they were extremely overwhelmed with number of sick. Mom was not admitted. So we took her home. 1 week later UTI was even more “acute” to quote the new to us hospitalist assigned to treat our mom.

However the 3rd time was far from the charm. 25 hours in ER. After we were assigned a room in the Er. Before that we sat in a cold hallway for 6-8 hours. The hospital staff was overwhelmed. It is small snd the numbers of patients there overwhelming. But the way mom was treated was vastly different. We were assigned a hospitalist, Dr Patel. If we asked questions we were treated indifferently and referred to MyChart for answers. The chart contained no lab results. Mom was admitted and the care she received from staff was minimal at best. For instance laying in urine on a chix pad for hours. Limited contact with a nurse. Some nurses outstanding and others minimal at best. It was documented by the charge nurse in the ED. She deteriorated pretty quickly. Ask for answers and you can only get run around answers. We can only assume she was placed in palliative care as someone decided our mom was demented, non ambulatory and bed ridden. Mom was not bed ridden when she arrived. Transferred to toilet chair and bed with assistance. Cognitive decline, yes. Non ambulatory and bed ridden no. Maybe now. Wound care to look at feet, we thought they came to treat her feet. No only assess. “If they get worse the nurse should call us.” No photo in chart said nurse. But no wound care said the nurse didnt know where to look in My Chart for photo. Communication with drs nurses staff and family and patient should be better. We should be a team. Not subjects in their kingdom. We are disappointed in the communication at this facility and as a result of decisions and orders made without clear care plan. First iv fluid discontinued at 9:00am. Then while awaiting discharge an IV specialist shows up to put mom on IV fluids. Sounds crazy but living through it is a nightmare. I would never leave a patient here without an advocate. Informed consent is a requirement for patients and their families. There is a good reason for that. Unless profit consideration is the fundamental determining factor. Ultimately their PT person had assessed our mom and where and what level care we should have her admitted to- his recommendation was not an assisted living but rather skilled nursing facility. Who the heck asked for his input he is not a dr and did not know our mother and her baseline capabilities.

Update we waited after the hospital pharmacist informed us they needed to correct the pharmacy location. 1-2 hours wait. We got to the corrected desired pharmacy only to learn the hospital sent prescription to the wrong pharmacy. Mistakes happen. We all know and can appreciate that. But how many mistakes before trust is damaged. We are talking about a human...

You will happy to know that after my review of their hospital below they did an investigation. They determined that no pain management for the three visits until five hours of wait time was ok. Sending me home with no pain management was ok. That despite after the second visit there ER doctor not finding the problem that my doctor took a few minutes to identify was ok. That after my doctor told them for my third visit that my gallbladder had to be removed and them verifying there mistake, using there past labs, it was ok they then put me back in waiting room for five hours with no pain management, before admitting me for surgery. It was also ok that after three days my gallbladder had died before the surgery and I had to spend two extra days in the hospital with a drain tube. Just in case you thought, things might improve.

By the way I'm sure you wouldn't see my wait time as five hours it is basically their triage time and has nothing to do with them actually identifying your problem or starting treatment.

First this review is for the ER only. Outside of the ER my experience was 5 stars. Concentration camp is what comes to mine when I think of my experiences, that's 3 days in a row, at the ER. I went in because I had pain of the charts and was in agony. They saw me within an hour to take me for scans and then sent me out to waiting room for five hours with a pain level of 10 and given no pain meds. When I asked it was like I was upsetting the cart to think I would ask for something for pain before they had put me in a room. So no they have no clue what triage is, establishing severity of injury and pain level. When they finally saw me had to give me Dilaudid to stop pain. I had told them I had recently been diagnosed with gallstones and figured that was it. They told me I was constipated, gave me codeine which I already told them didn't work hence the dilaudid. Told me to go home and take stole softener. Second night exact same experience including concentration five hour wait in waiting room rolling in pain. No pain meds this time just go home and take stole softener. Ask if they could do a procedure to relive problem and they said that was only done in operating room and I said Ok lets do that because I will just have to live in pain and come back tomorrow they said no. Went and saw my doctor and he was in shock. He said it is obviously your gall bladder and that is right here in the labs they took. Couldn't believe if they didn't fix problem they had at least put me in hospital for pain management. He called them to tell them problem they were missing. I went they saw they had been wrong and take a guess at it? They sent me to the waiting room for 3 to 4 hours of rolling in pain until they called me to the back to get pain meds and be admitted for gallbladder removal. That got me out of the ER and the best care I have ever received. The only thing I can say is unless you need to interrogate a prisoner do not...