TriStar Centennial Children's Hospital Emergency Room — Local services in Nashville-Davidson

We presented to the ER on Saturday (5/31/25) because my son was super lethargic (slept from 9pm friday night to 4pm saturday afternoon, only waking up because we woke him). 103 fever that had already broke once and came back again. He had no wet diapers in over 8 hours. We drove 1.5hrs because we have always received good care there when he needed it.

This time, though, was not the case.

Upon entering the ER we let staff know my 22 month old is diagnosed with Autism, as they brag on the website about how they are specially trained. My sons fever had broken again in the car on the way there. He was much more alert than he had been, but still not himself.

My child with ASD who is very easily over stimulated was placed on a bed in a very busy ER hallway directly across from the nurses station. He was pinned down to the bed not once, but twice, to the point he was crying so hard he couldn’t breathe. I told the doctor before they started he was ASD as well. They said his ears looked fine. I explained all of our symptoms, expressed my concern. The doctor talked so quickly the only thing i understood was “viral”. They gave him a dose of motrin, even though they stated he didn’t have fever.

We requested the doctor come back and explain, and she was bobbing her head up and down all disrespectful and talking to me like I was dumb. Said he had a viral infection (NO TEST at all was done to rule out or confirm anything else.) We requested a viral panel, as I had just had a viral strain of pneumonia. She flat refused the panel and said it would take several days to come back and he would just be better by then. I told her to just get us our discharge papers if they weren’t going to help us.

We then had to talk to registration over the iPad and provide my son’s private information in this busy hallway where everyone could hear us. That doesn’t seem to follow HIPPA - coming from someone who has worked in healthcare. You are supposed to protect the patient’s privacy and us being stuck in a hallway was definitely not that.

We were discharged and told to follow up with a PCP because “he’s fine”.

Today (Monday) rolls around and I take my son to his PCP. Not only does he have a double ear infection, after saying his ears are fine, he’s RSV positive and still running high fever. A couple simple tests could have diagnosed my baby 2 days earlier, but due to negligence and refusal to listen to the parent, he spent 2 more days in pain with his ears. I know there is little to do about RSV, however the way this situation was handled along with the flat ignorance of my son’s ASD, was atrocious.

I have spoken with patient advocacy and they stated this will be escalated. I just feel it is fair for other mother’s/father’s of children with ASD to know that this “special training” they receive is bogus. Either they didn’t pay attention or they don’t care. Not to mention, not listening to the parent and refusing...

First of all when I walked in, there was no one at the front desk for a while. I stood there at the check in desk until someone finally came to check us in. Thank goodness my child wasn’t having a life threatening emergency because no one would’ve been up there to help. Not to mention the fact we were taken to a room & when I sat my son on the bed, there was medical tape stuck to the sheets from another patient so I’m assuming it’s not a very clean hospital either. Secondly, my son’s pediatrician said to take my son to the emergency room because he had a respiratory infection and was wheezing pretty bad throughout the day. We were seen by 2 doctors during our very brief visit. Was seen for about 5 minutes, the first provider barely listened to my son’s breathing and told they’d be fine to discharge my son when I came in with complaints of his wheezing. Didn’t even do the bare minimum of testing him for RSV, my son is an INFANT by the way. Was asked by the first provider “are you a first time mom?”… insinuating that I was prematurely bringing him to be checked out given I’m a first time mom and may be more “anxious” than other moms. No reason for that comment at all. Was told by the first provider that they would give my son Zyrtec and the 2nd provider said he did hear wheezing, then told by the 2nd provider he’d be right back after talking with the first provider that saw us when we first arrived. Neither provider ever came back to talk or discuss anything with me & my son was never given the Zyrtec they said they’d give him. Then after waiting in the room for the doctor to come back with my screaming, uncomfortable & sick son, the nurse came in with my discharge paperwork and said “you’re good to go home.” I’m very unsatisfied with my experience here. I felt stupid for even coming to get my son checked out when he was wheezing. I deeply regret wasting my time and wasting the gas to make the drive to this hospital. I ended up taking him to another facility where they treated him much better and with true concern. I’ll never be...

My fiance previously left a 1 star rating due to the treatment our autistic son received (or lack thereof) recently. After calling patient advocacy, we received a letter in the mail stating they had deemed the care our son received appropriate.

Failing to diagnosis a severe double ear infection was appropriate? Pinning a 22 month old autistic child down to a bed by two strangers, without asking for parental assistance was appropriate? Our son is used to having his ears checked, if his mother had been able to hold him up right he would not have even cried. We requested a viral panel and was denied, for our child to test positive for RSV. While yes there is no treatment, it’s nice to know as each daycare and school has different guidelines in our area. Not to mention we have an elderly family member who has almost been killed with RSV before and would need a warning.

Patient advocacy dropped the ball on this one. 1 star rating not only for the ER, but them as well. A parent expressed concerns, valid concerns, and was not listened to. They stated they “talked to the physician”. I’m sure you did, and I’m sure they did not tell you that we kept our mouths shut until the end because we thought they were going to help our son.

Won’t be back, and will continue to tell everyone we meet to NEVER step foot in a centennial hospital if even patient advocacy isn’t...