Oklahoma Children's Hospital OU Health — Local services in Oklahoma City

Our time at OU Children's hospital was the worst month of our lives. We were admitted at the end of January 2024 when my daughter was born with a wide variety of problems with her heart; MAPCA's, tetralogy of fallot being the main ones. The doctors spent the better part of two weeks beating around the bush on a prognosis--eventually telling us that the prognosis was your daughter will not make it, you might as well just go home. We asked about potential surgeries and options. They did say other options were possible but probably will not happen. In my daughter's case she needed a surgery called unifocalization which takes the tiny little blood vessels that formed in place of an artery and converges those into a makeshift artery. This is a complicated surgery, so we understand it is no small battle, but we had done research online and found out that Stanford Hospital in California is known for developing this procedure and performing it. When we asked our doctors at OU Children's if they could help refer us, they said no and that we could do it on our own, but they will tell us the same thing, your daughter has no chance and that you will be sent home on hospice to watch her die. We tried to get meetings with the head of the cardiology team to discuss possibilities to which we basically got the cold shoulder the entire time. We had completely lost hope. OU tried to send us home with adult hospice for a 1-month-old child, and it would not even be covered by my insurance. Until we fought hard enough to get them to find us an alternative option. They then sent us home after raising her feeding dramatically right before we left, so then the night we got home she threw up every single time we fed her. Which if anyone has done feeding through an NG tube you know that causes the child to lose the tube and you have to reinsert it. Very traumatic, so then we had to turn around and go to the ER in Tulsa for them to reinsert the tube and help us figure something out. We spent 13 hours in an ER the day after getting home from a month-long hospital stay because the people at OU did not take the time to consider what is best for the patient.

They kept making us drive 2.5 hours to OKC just to do the same things that we could have done 20 minutes away from home. This resulted in my daughter again getting sick from eating while driving since we were on a tight feeding window. Long story short my daughter got accepted by Stanford hospital where they gave us some hope and said we can help your daughter! They did a full repair on 9/5/24. She is currently in recovery and completely thriving.

Before having surgery at Stanford, OU children's wanted to visit about a possible g-tube surgery which sounded great as she had been having more trouble with her NG tube. I called ahead of our OU consult two times to make sure that I was not driving down there with my daughter for nothing, and they assured me that I needed to come to the hospital. You guessed it, when we got there, they told us they cannot do the g-tube surgery since it is so close to Stanford doing heart surgery. Which them not being able to do it was not the problem, it is the fact that I called to try and avoid the drive if not necessary and they insisted we come in just for a 5-minute conversation to tell us g-tube surgery was impossible.

That was and will be our last visit with OU Children's if I have any way to avoid it. On top of all that, BILLING. I called every time I got a bill to see how I needed to pay it since it would not show up on mychart. Every time on the phone they said you do not owe anything even though I HAD A BILL IN HAND WITH A PRICE ON IT. I went into the office at OU to try the same thing and they said I did not owe anything at the time. Fast forward a few months later--they sent us to collections!! When I called to ask why that was, they said I never called, never went in, and it was all my fault because THEY had not linked their billing to our mychart. Absolutely not the way to treat patients/ families when going...

Oklahoma Children's Hospital: Navigating Progress and Challenges

⭐⭐⭐ (3/5)

Reviewing Oklahoma Children's Hospital brings a mix of sentiments due to my extensive history of personal experiences and recent observations.

Nearly a decade ago, we relied on their services for a birth. At the time, the limited and costly kitchen options stood out. As we navigated the challenges of having a NICU baby and post-recovery concerns, vigilance was key. There was an instance where I had to intervene as an RN attempted to administer a duplicate medication. Thankfully, in the end, everything resolved positively.

Recently, our friend welcomed a baby at this hospital, and I was heartened to see some upgrades. The addition of a Subway was a nice touch, although the employee's demeanor seemed less than ideal.

A 3-star rating stems primarily from the noticeable aging of the facility. While some cosmetic improvements have been made, underlying issues persist. The elevators are noticeably jerky and noisy. The post-recovery rooms for mothers and babies are confined, providing minimal space for movement, let alone comfort. In one instance, our friend's room was uneven, leading to challenges with the IV cart. They also faced an uncomfortable temperature drop, necessitating additional blankets and reliance on a baby heat lamp until the issue was addressed. It's imperative that the hospital monitors weather conditions more closely.

Furthermore, both my wife and our friend experienced recovery complications. Given the substantial volume of patients passing through, I'll abstain from delving further into this topic.

Another noteworthy consideration is the nature of a teaching hospital. The doctor you formulate a birthing plan with may not ultimately be the one delivering your baby. This is a reality of life, but it's essential to be aware of.

On a positive note, the hospital's efforts to enhance charging accessibility with upgraded outlets and additional charging stations are commendable. I distinctly recall the challenge of locating a single plug almost a decade ago.

In sum, Oklahoma Children's Hospital shows promise, but there are significant structural and operational improvements needed. As time progresses, a comprehensive overhaul may be inevitable. For now, it serves as a reminder of both progress and the pressing need for further...

OU Childrens hospital is awful! I’m a first time mom and I went to my pediatricians office to get my 4 month old (at the time) checked out because he was just vomiting, though maybe the flu or changing of formula but just wanted to make sure! Granted we didn’t go to his pediatrician we went to the PA (second PCP in the building) I go thru Edmond pediatrics! So she Sends us to OU Childrens to get check out by them idk why!! Didn’t tell us the reason why she sent us there, no explanation! But I got there at 8pm Friday, Thursday night came back at 3am Friday morning because they said early morning you’ll get in quicker! Came back at 3am got in the back fairly quick. Then they run all these tests on my poor baby (cat scan, blood work, untlrasound, IV in his head) not telling us why there doing it only a oh it protocol! They came back and said well we’re very nervous and concerned because his eyes are shaking (moving back and forth side to side) only one eye! And I’m like his pediatrician he sees on a normal basis has record of it and says he most likely will grow out of it or need glasses not a big problem! My poor baby had to stay over night because they wanted to put him to sleep so they could do a mri not telling us why they need it either just that they need to check the boxes off!! Of course as mom and dad were telling them no if there’s no reason to out a 4 month old to sleep we’re not doing it if u give us a reason then we will! But no for what? Why are we even here? So they ended up telling us we can’t leave and we have to stay over night! They wouldn’t tell us till the next day at around 6:45pm that the mri was canceled and that the reason why we are here and had to stay was that they suspected child abuse and someone in the hospitals ER reported on us! The whole situation could have been avoided by them telling us in the first place why we were there and what was going on! And the secondary pediatrician instead of jumping to conclusions could have sat and talk ti us or asked questions before just sending us to the er! I feel like OU Childrens looks for a way to take kids from (young)parents and it’s disgusting! Yes there’s sick people out there that hurt children but that doesn’t mean everyone does!! I will be going to Intregris baptist for now on for...