New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai - Main Campus — Local services in New York

I was referred to Mt. Sinai’s Eye and Ear Infirmary by a doctor from Mt. Sinai’s nearby Union Square location to run a culture on an infection in my eye as they believed it to be fungal in nature. I could not open my eye due to intense sensitivity after 12 days of other symptoms in the same eye and non-steroid eye drops were not working.

It did not appear the E&E Infirmary nurse had the notes from my Union Square visit, so I shared verbally. The nurse was very thorough in her duties, note-taking, and expectation-setting, and the observing student was kind.

After an hour and a half, I saw a young physician for a first time. He performed a visual examination and came to no concise conclusion. No culture was taken. He asked if I had new sexual partners to which I responded no. He vigorously scrubbed my eye with a dry cotton swab quite painfully with no warning, and managed to swing the eye equipment into my stationary head without acknowledging or apologizing. He dilated my eyes, and I went back to the waiting room for approximately 2 more hours. Patients were playing music out loud via cell phone and speakers, and there were dozens of people waiting. Staff had no control over the space.

Upon my 2nd visit with the doctor, I was asked if I ever get sores around my mouth. I respond with a no. Combined with the question regarding sexual partners, it was pretty obvious what direction he was leaning. He takes another look, clearly does not have a set diagnosis other than his herpes hunch, informs me someone else will take a look, and then audibly speaks with 2 physicians just outside the room I am waiting in. The first topic of conversation was “why he didn’t regret taking a job at Mt. Sinai, but…” which lasted about 8 minutes (while the waiting room remained full). Then specifics of my case are shared.

The three physicians enter the room. The 2nd physician did not get within 3 feet of me and fairly immediately suggested Valtrex as the logical route. While I did not catch, as they were not shared, the 2 additional physicians’ names, I want to note the 3rd did seem to genuinely care and actually examined my eyes.

With no culture at the first doctor’s request, the trip to the Eye and Ear Infirmary was a poor use of time that led to no additional aid.

On my way to schedule a follow-up appointment, I was given grief by the man who was scheduling. I could see him clearly with my one good eye, but he thought it best to lecture me on where “his” line started (not a single other patient in the room), as if I’d be back to use that information again.

My advice if you are referred here on the spot is to get an external second opinion and to not waste your hours at this location, especially if you have severe symptoms. If you are insured, you can easily set up and get to 2-4 appointments with personal care in the time it takes to wait here. While anecdotal, I did not get the sense that this was a rare or unique day.

Total time at the infirmary was over 4 hours and they did not prescribe me anything the initial physician at Union Square could not have in a fraction of the time. As a first-time patient at Mt. Sinai, I won’t be willingly returning, and would never send elderly family members here. I will actively inform friends and family of my experience and where to go instead.

Total bill was $700 after insurance. Unofficial diagnosis...

UPDATE: I have never had such poor care in my life. Had to go back for an emergency visit and my doctor (Dr Du) called in 4 prescriptions. I got to the pharmacy to pick them up, and the pharmacy said they were ordered incorrectly so they cant fill them, and they were waiting on the doctor to contact them to fix it. This went on for DAYS, and Dr Du never addressed the issues with the pharmacy, didn't contact them, and didn't call me back. Eventually I had to get a different doctor to prescribe the medicine for me so that I could actually begin taking it. This means i went over 5 days without the medicine I was told I urgently needed to treat my eye condition. I went back for my follow up visit, and was told by Dr Du that I needed a referral to a specialist. She said she was emailing them and calling in the referral. Well, yet again, 7 days have passed and I have no appointment, and when I called the doctor I was referred to, they said they cannot give me an appointment because it was never called in by Dr Du. This place is an absolute MESS and a bunch of first year residents are running around treating patients and attempting to give care without ANY oversight, and because of that, issues like this with not getting prescriptions and not getting referrals are pervasive. This place needs entirely new management. Also, when I called the number below after my review was replied to, I was unable to speak with anyone to report it - the phone just nonstop rang every time I called. What a joke. This is HORRIBLE and so dangerous to the health of patients

It’s unfortunate you can’t give a negative number of stars. I have been there every day for the last four days for appointments (2nd floor), and there has not yet been a time I haven’t waited more than 2+ hours for my appointment. As if that’s not bad enough, I am in severe pain due to my eye condition and the staff don’t seem to care. There is no dark waiting room (what eye center doesn’t have a dark waiting room???) and despite sitting in the waiting room literally in tears, my wait time is still over 2+ hours after my “appointment” time passed.

I have never been treated so poorly in my life. The management here is absolutely heinous, and because you’re being seen by first year residents (and MAYBE if you’re lucky you’ll see an attending for 30 seconds) much information isn’t shared.

For example, the first resident I saw on my first appointment day didn’t even tell me how long I should expect to be in pain for or that it would be NORMAL to have increased pain after starting medicine.

This just sets up the eye center and doctors for even more chaos and urgent appointments. AVOID!!!!!!!!!!! I literally...

TLDR: Works in a pinch (emergencies/weekend) but otherwise, if you value your time and sanity, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AVOID AVOID AVOID at all costs.

I came in on a Sunday with an emergency eye condition that needed to be addressed ASAP. The doctor did disappear for about 30 min in the middle of my evaluation, but I was in and out of the Clinic in about 2.5 hours, which I considered to be reasonable for an emergent situation on a weekend.

When I tried to call the Infirmary from the drugstore because of an issue with my Rx, I called 20 times only to be transferred then disconnected, told "that doctor doesn't work here" (?) or hung up on entirely. This should've been my first clue that there is something deeply wrong with how this facility is run.

When I came back the next day at 8am to be seen again about the same issue (the doctor told me to come back the next day if my condition got worse, and it did), I waited three hours to be seen, only for a front desk attendant to tell me it would be an additional 3-4 hours. When I responded in disbelief at the 6-7 hour wait time, and asked her to confirm, she actually smiled at me and started counting the hours I should expect to wait. "12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30."

To whoever is running this absolutely shameful excuse for a medical practice in the year 2024: There are many ways to handle the influx of people at your facility. Here are some suggestions, free, from me to you!

Sign them in, take their phone numbers, then call/text them when you are 30 min out from being able to see them Give them buzzers, Olive Garden style. If you're worried they will steal them, take their credit card for collateral Post estimated wait times in the lobby. If the (also broken) MTA can do it, so can you!

I do not want to diminish the good work the health care workers are doing here, nor the admin staff who manage to remain kind in the face of very difficult obstacles. I believe the doctors - if you are actually lucky enough to see one - are perfectly capable here.

HOWEVER, for an urgent care facility to behave so callously and irresponsibly toward folks in their most vulnerable moment - an emergency health care situation involving their most precious asset, their sight - is honestly unconscionable to me.

Shame on you for not...