UNC REX Hospital — Local services in Raleigh

I'm disappointed I even have to give this hospital one star just so this review will be seen. I am a 21 year female that lives alone that has struggled with kidney problems for about 5 years now which has allowed me to be seen at about every hospital. I get serve pain in my abdomen when my right kidney gets inflamed and it causes my whole body to go into shock. after being okay for about 8 months the pain decides to come back Sunday am. after fighting going to the hospital for about 2 hours trying to self medicate myself with antibiotics and Tylenol, I finally got into enough pain to where I had no choice but to drive myself to the hospital. when I get there I'm rushed into the ER from my car, I can barely speak I'm in so much pain, I then motion my purse to get my id and within minutes I'm in the room. that's where all hell breaks loose. the 2 nurses (one training) comes in, I tell them what's wrong and instead of them trying to fix it they ask me why I was up at 5am in the first place. um hello obviously I was in pain and it woke me up. the doctor then comes in, couldn't even tell you what he looked like because I was crouched in a circle holding myself trying to releve the pressure and pain, the nurses then come back in say they will start an iv as the doctor ordered but couldn't give me any sedatives unless someone came to be with me. so I gave the nurse my mother's number. the other nurse at the same time was trying to put an IV in my arm, after 6 failed attempts she finally got it halfway in there so I guess she said that's good enough and tapes it up. (remember I've been hospitals my whole life, the IV is usually the easiest part, even if they forget to put the saline and burn my vein in the process) after loading it with medicine with only half of it going in the IV and the other half going all on my arm (oh well it's not like they are paying for it)I finally say please just put the catheter in so I can relieve this pressure and pee, I'm hurting from the pressure so if we relieve that it should be an easy job right? the nurse in training was selected to insert it, which caused the most pain of my life (remind you I've been having this issue so a catheter is my saving grace) but she couldn't even do that. now pee is all on myself while the bag is emptied. I scream to stop it and get me another nurse or my doctor because it wasn't in right and it's making the pain worse and instead another nurse came in trying to hold me down so the nurse who knew nothing could try to fix it. it caused so much pain I grab a nurse who was overseeing the nurse messing up trying to hold on for support and she pushed my hand away and said don't touch me. remind you, I'm by myself 21 with half an IV and a half in catheter trying to stay calm and just needing a hand to hold while her fellow employees cause even more pain. I finally wrestled myself out the bed, fighting off a nurse who gave me 2 big evident bruises from holding me down, but ironically enough having another nurse say don't touch her. doesn't make since. after fighting my way out I call my mom crying, and she's in complete shock because she had no idea I was even in the hospital even though the nurse said she was going to call her before she gave me any medicine. I'm just in disgust and horror with this hospital. it's scary to know my insurance will only cover this hospital, because they are nothing more than money hungry women who are there for a paycheck and not for the want to help the well being of their patients. luckily my family doctor returned my call within minutes of me leaving and I woke up today feeling better than ever. just writing this to inform other people if you want to be taken care of with trust they have your best interest at heart, DON'T COME TO REX. the overweight blonde woman with a short haircut should be nothing more but a janitor at the facility and even then I would be worried about the floor being half-ass mopped. Please do not send me a bill for my bruises and my holes in my arms I have experienced enough...

On Memorial Day Monday, 2025, we were meeting with family at my sister’s house in Raleigh to celebrate my Dad's 90 birthday. We decorated the house, greeted the guests, sang to Happy Birthday to my Dad. My husband, Scott, 57 years old and a pack a day smoker, asked my sister for something for heartburn. My sister gave him a couple of chewable Tums. Suddenly my husband called me into another room, but before he could tell me what was wrong, he dashed to the bathroom to vomit. When the wave of nausea passed, he began to describe numbness in his fingers and his elbows. He talked about discomfort in his chest and weakness in his shoulders. I have worn a Fitbit for years. The one I currently wear has the ability to perform an EKG. I asked Scott to put on my Fitbit, so I could see his EKG tracing. Even on that tiny screen, I could see evidence of a pronounced ST elevation in Scott's tracing. My sweet husband of almost 23 years was having a heart attack in my sister's dining room! I asked how close the nearest ER was. She told me there were two about equal distance away, both about 10 minutes. My niece, Suzy, looked up one of these two. Turns out it was UNC REX. I decided it was faster to drive to the ED rather than to call for an ambulance. On the ride over, I tried to prepare Scott for all that would happen, very quickly, when we got to the ED. I explained that if he was having a heart attack, there would be a lot of people in the room, all doing different tasks at the same time. They would have to get IV access, capture an EKG, draw lab work, maybe take a chest x-ray, and maybe put him on oxygen. Within minutes they called him back for triage. Erin and I were asked to stay in the waiting room. I assumed they were finishing his triage, drawing lab, and doing an EKG. Just a few minutes after he went back to the ED came the overhead page. "Code STEMI, REX ED, Room 5." That's hospital talk for an acute heart attack. I knew they were taking about Scott. During a heart attack the cells aren't getting oxygen, and can begin to die. Minutes can result in irreversible heart tissue damage. This is a true medical emergency. Within minutes, the ED staff came to get me. They were about to take Scott to the Cardiac Cath Lab. Less than 15 minutes after our arrival, my husband was going to have a lifesaving procedure. But seeing him with the AED pads on his chest is an image I will never forget. It really drove home how critical his situation was! We arrived at the ED at 3:16 pm on Memorial Day Monday. And by 3:37 pm, they started his cath procedure. Twenty-one minutes from door to cath lab! What an incredibly well-organized facility and staff! Later, Dr. George Adams came to give my sister and me an update. Scott had a 100% blockage in the left anterior descending coronary artery. This is the artery they call the "widow maker" because it can be so fatal if it becomes blocked. They put a stint in this vessel to restore blood flow to the front part of the heart this afternoon. He also had a 78% blockage to another coronary artery on the side of his heart. In the next couple of weeks, he will go back to the Cath lab to have a second stint placed. He is going to be OK. And for that I thank God! And I thank the incredible staff of UNC REX. I thank the ED staff that managed his care so quickly and so professionally for the few minutes he was in the ED. I thank the cath lab staff that saved Scott’s life. I thank Dr. Adams and his staff for the expert care they provided. Most of all, I thank the staff of the 8th Floor of the Heart and Vascular Hospital. These healthcare professionals were amazing to me and to my husband. They were friendly, knowledgeable, respectful, firm when necessary, compassionate, and simply amazing. I would like to give a special thank you to Britta, Nicole and Sehra, who were so kind to my cantankerous husband. They laughed with him, they taught him, they encouraged him, and they responded to him whenever he needed them. Even the housekeeper, Rebecca,...

ER I sustained an open tib /fib fracture and came to ER via ambulance. I was immediately placed in a bay and was greeted by a nurse. Dr arrived within ten minutes. Unfortunately, all the pain meds I had on board when they decided to attempt to reduce the fracture was fentanyl given in the ambulance. They decided to give morphine, but continued with manual traction and repositioning of broken bones to allow for a splint to be placed without waiting for the morphine to take effect. At least portable x-rays were performed immediately afterwards. My request for surgery to be delayed until the morning was taken into consideration even if the ER doc wasn't too impressed by my explanation that I didn't want emergency surgery by a surgeon who already had a 10+ hour day. 1.5 hours later they give me more pain meds (hydromorphone this time as apparently they recognized the morphine was insufficient), and after they took effect they irrigated the fracture site and try to reduce the fracture yet again. Still not enough pain meds to make tugging on and repositioning broken bones in a leg that is swelling about twice it's normal size tolerable, so sorry to anyone who was disturbing by my screaming. Tl;dr- Was seen and treated immediately in ER, but at the expense of pain management. Redefined 10/10 pain for me and possibly those in surrounding bays.

6 West I had great nurses, aids, techs, and housekeeping so idk where all these negative reviews are from. Everyone was great at explaining things, but sometimes didn't have accurate information from the drs/other departments/ ect. There was sometimes a 10 minute wait if call button was used around the hour mark & the nurse was busy with other patients. When I refused a Foley catheter at 2am and asked to have it placed closer to surgery, the nurse passed on my request without issues. Only issue I have is I was not allowed to shower before discharge, even though I was allowed to walk and the shower had the bench and handheld head that would have made showering there much safer.

Food It's pretty terrible. Worse than public schools, college dorms & buffet restaurants. Additionally, there's very limited options, and lunch and dinner options are the same for that day since they're continuous service. The vegetarian options are pb&j or a salad, which is fewer and worse options than even most steakhouses.

Surgery I met the night anesthesiologist when transferring from the ER, and saw both him and the day shift anesthesiologist in pre-op. Both were friendly, clearly explained their plans, and answered questions.The pre-op nurse was also friendly and helpful. However, I literally met the surgeon and was told what procedure he was going to perform and what hardware was going to be used when the anesthesiologist had to go find him so that I could sign the surgical release form prior to being sedated for surgery. The nurse asked if I would sign the release form stating that I had been told about the procedure, risks, and potential complications without actually meeting the surgeon and discussing it with him. I'm not sure if my expression or his own common sense had the anesthesiologist shutting down that suggestion real quick.

The post-op nurses weren't as personable and it was very tiring to hear them repeatedly tell another patient to not to get up/remove their IV as they were just getting out of surgery (about 15 times in a ten minute period). I wasn't monitored very closely, even though I received 3-4 pain meds in post op and my anesthetic regimen contained ketamine which is not reversible. Also, I was transferred between a few nurses when they were trying to figure out lunch breaks. I'm not sure I would trust loved ones to that lax monitoring, but it was good enough for me. Also, family members were not allowed in post-op at that time as a prisoner and two guards were there.

Overall Public hospital full of bureaucracy and is short staffed and...