Penn Presbyterian Medical Center Emergency Room — Local services in Philadelphia

The walk in situation for an elderly person and caregiver isn’t ideal ( ramp to walk in area from a car. )The check in was done by a lovely person, however when we left the man at check in area wouldn’t let my handicapped family member sit in a chair close to entrance in order to get our uber.the time discussing or arguing led me to need to order another uber. No one was in the ER waiting room at 2am. No one was coming in. Even if someone was coming in the check in through the metal detector would have given us ample time to get up from the chair to free it up for an in coming walk in patient. My loved one needed to sit. We asked for a wheelchair to exit the building prior to leaving the ER room and one never showed up. Strange. Penn can do better in this area . Easy to do and not argue with the patient and caregiver. Especially at 2 am The ER needs to do a better job with a plan of action. Determine what tests are needed and possible order of specialists and inform the patient. The wait time could be reduced significantly. In this case a med needed to be provided hours before a test. It was likely the med could have been given early and patient ready for said test once it reached determined hours. We were there to rule out possible stroke , two days post heart surgery done next door. To find they have little ability to gleen information swiftly from the computer upon entering the ER despite on call heart surgeon calling ahead for us. Also the same story needed to be repeated for each specialty. This could be reduced alap. Everyone seemed nice. We just waited around from 6:30 pm to 2am. Each person doing a test and asking questions. Questions and hypotheses and possible case scenarios. Symptoms directly related to post op situation. Delay in diagnostic imaging and long wait time. The ER seemed very quiet. Staff joking in the hallway and many at the nurses station. Maybe an off day. Lucky for us. I cannot say it was an ideal experience. Things that could have been sorted in the beginning may have made this a good experience with the imaging done to rule out problematic symptoms. I’d love to speak with someone further about this. Seems easy enough to tweek a few issues that came up. Possibly customer service education to the man at check in area and the security gal . Compassion and assistance was lacking and very...

I visited the ER yesterday after experiencing concerning symptoms for over a week, including an 8-day fever, swollen lymph nodes, sneezing, coughing, congestion, headaches, and night sweats. I shared all of this with the screening staff, who confirmed I did indeed have a fever. I was given Tylenol, swabbed for COVID, and sent to the waiting area without any blood work being ordered. When I followed up at the front desk, I was told they were only testing for COVID.

After waiting 5 hours, I was finally called to the back but was placed in a chair in the hallway. Within minutes, I overheard a nurse speaking negatively about another patient, which felt unprofessional and unsettling. The same nurse approached me to say the doctor would be with me shortly.

When the doctor arrived, I was told my COVID test was negative. I brought up my concerns about not having blood work done, and the doctor dismissed it, saying, "I don’t think we’ll find anything." I was told I was being discharged. Shortly after, the nurse checked my vitals again (right after giving me ice water, which could affect the reading) and told me my temperature was down. When I expressed concern that something was still wrong, she said an 8-day fever "happens sometimes," which didn’t sit right with me.

As I waited for my discharge papers, the doctor asked if there was any chance I could be pregnant - something that should have been addressed early on in the visit. I provided a sample, and moments later, the nurse returned to swab my throat but barely touched the back of my tongue, nowhere near my tonsils.

At this point, I was exhausted and just ready to leave. The overall experience felt rushed, dismissive, and unthorough, especially given the seriousness of my symptoms. This visit left me feeling unheard and concerned about the level of...

I went to this ER as an asthmatic cardiac patient having respiratory/cardiac symptoms. Chest tightness, chest pain, I couldn't breathe, I was dizzy, and very irregular heart beat at home, which is why I went in. After signing in, I was put in the waiting room for nearly an hour. Only after complaining about the the situation did they finally do triage. During triage I told them what was happening to me, and they had a flippant attitude. They didn't care at all. They eventually sat me in a room to get an EKG, but the nurse was restocking medical supplies for nearly 10 minutes before saying, "Ok, I'm gonna do your EKG now." I was like, "Are you serious? I'm a cardiac patient having cardiac symptoms and nobody cares." Some ER staff guy named Kyree calls to the nurse, "She's here for shortness of breath." WHAT??? That's not what I told them. I said to him, "That is not what I told the girl at the front." He tells me to be quiet "I'm not talking to you" with an attitude. I said it's disgusting for ER staff to treat a patient that way when they are suffering and in an emergency situation. He rolled his eyes at me and walked away. I tried to complain about this horrible behavior of his, but nobody cared. The staff there were so nasty and had no care, concern, or empathy for what was happening to me. I decided to leave. They were gonna let me die in there, but only after being as nasty as possible. Here I sit still unable to breathe, chest hurting, and head spinning, but after what happened today, I give up. I don't even care if I die at this point. At least it won't be surrounded by...