The Ohio State University Medical Center

Having visited other hospitals recently to see sick friends and to check out maternity areas, this one is our favorite. Clean, comfy, open. Friendly and helpful staff. Easy parking. I’ve never had a bad visit to OSU hospitals (though I have never actually been a patient…) On the other hand, I have had less than stellar visits to other hospitals.
It’s huge, they can handle pretty much any issue/​specialty, and as a teaching hospital they are up on the latest developments. Sweetie is thrilled to be going here to have our Buckeye Baby.

The ER doctors and staff were great. The parking garage is a completely different story. To make things more complicated than they should bring (the OSU administration way) you can’t pay with your ticket at the parking garage exit like 99% of the parking garages in existence. After finding this out at the exit, we had to find a parking spot, get out of the car, walk to the hospital lobby, pay and get a second ticket to use at the exit. When your chief concern when parking st an ER is getting medical help in an emergency the last thing on your mind is seeking out parking payment instructions while running to the ER.

This place treated us so good I really can’t say enough good things the staff was absolutely wonderful and the food was great too. I’m so grateful we where in the area an found this one thanks for everything you did and will still do for us. We r from Las Vegas they are making all our apt for us so by the time we get home they will be calling us with the apt and doctors we need … Thank you again

Terrible! We are currently sitting in the «emergency room» and have been waiting 7 hours. STILL WAITING. If you have an emergency, turn around now! You will die in this waiting room either from illness or old age. After 6 hours I politely asked the front desk how much longer it will be, one guy tells me that my mother in law was next but then the woman next time him interrupts and says oh no, there are people in front of her. How does one computer say she is next and another says no?! Like I wrote earlier, please turn around now if you have an emergency. I hope you have better luck finding another hospital.

I was kept in CDU overnight for pain control for a kidney stone while 22 weeks pregnant. When I first came in everyone was absolutely wonderful. I came mid day and there was absolutely no wait, I got right back and was immediately seen and diagnosed and even administered pain medication in under 20 minutes to which has NEVER happened to me.
I’m currently still in CDU, which is a crappier part of the hospital in my opinion. I stayed two days and I don’t have my own bathroom, or even a door. Lights are left on and you can hear everyone’s conversations which sucks, but hey… it’s a hospital. There are tons of sick people.
The doctors for the most part have been amazing. They give you business cards with pictures of them, and their name, so that you remember (and obviously write a decent review (;) Some of the nurses need a lesson in respect, but I would totally recommend this place.
I will be having my twin boys on the L&D floor in November, so expect another review!

My first and will be my only experience at the newly named Abercrombie and Fitch emergency department was an ordeal to say the least. I really have to wonder about the appropriateness of that name. The only pleasant people there were the young man who was sitting at the entrance and greeted us, and the person who took our insurance info and payment.
The wait was unnecessarily long, the nurses were rude and uncaring, and the front desk check in ladies were extremely rude and BORED also. The resident seemed overly impressed with herself and flew in and out, and then we waited and waited for her attending. She spent about 5 mins with us when she did show up.
When we finally got out of there, we walked and encountered some creep checking cars in the parking lot in front of the ED to see if they were unlocked. And not any security in sight.
I find it hilarious that this hospital claims it is all about putting patients first and personalized care. I think not. I’ll be going to Riverside next time.

I’ve been to ER once here and I am never going back. Besides the receptionist and the guy who gave me my EKG, everyone was very rude and dismissive. As an OSU student myself, I must say I expected better.
I went in due to arrhythmia, tachycardia and excruciating chest pain. At first sight I am too young to have a heart attack, but at the time I was suffering from bulimia and had been vomiting heavily for the past 48 hours. I was so sick that I couldn’t keep down water.
Dr. Delatore was my physician and he did not take me seriously at all. At one point he asked me «what made you think that this was a good reason to come to the ER?» I’ll add that it was a Sunday afternoon so they weren’t exactly swamped – even so, I waited so long to go in that my tachycardia (which had lasted for two hours previously) had stopped. I told him that I couldn’t keep down water and that I was so dehydrated that my tongue was sticking to my teeth but he didn’t do anything for me and rolled his eyes when I told him I had suffered from an eating disorder for sixteen years. A nurse was nice enough to bring me ice chips but I asked for a blanket three times and never got one even though I was shaking and my extremities were turning blue/​purple.
I always see these OSU med center ads on Facebook that say «there’s no such thing as a normal irregular heartbeat» but warning: if your heart is acting up they’ll treat you like an idiot or a hypochondriac unless you’re in full-​on cardiac arrest, at which point I’m sure they’ll ask why you didn’t come in earlier. Never again.

I went to the emergency room for a head injury. None of the doctors were personable or pleasant, they treated me like an idiot. They ended up diagnosing me wrong since the never gave me a ct. Reason they didn’t give me a ct was because «the amount of radiation would be worse for me then the possible risk of what ever the head injury was». I ended up having a severer concussion and had to get a ct anyway. It frustrates me that they treated me like a number and didn’t bother to fallow proper procedures. Btw I did get a ct two days later and there was something wrong. But at least the wait wasn’t long

I should have just stuck with Grant. My check in went smoothly, and the staff outside of triage were doing admirably. After going through the double-​doors, however, I could see why they had their hands full. I was «fast-​tracked» which in hind-​sight means «pass him through the icepack and bandaid brigade and get him out of here». Once I went back, I was sitting in a high traffic hallway with two other patients. We were all «assessed» by RN Howard, who has all the charm and bedside manner of the playground bully that used to slap you with your own hands and ask you why you were crying. So I go in. I try to explain that I’ve had a shoulder injury that has deteriorated greatly over the last year, but I’d put on hold due to a severe and nearly life-​threatening condition I had operated on successfully at Grant first. Honestly, I went to OSU because they were closer, and supposedly have a great reputation. His belittling of one patient’s condition due to this weekend’s marathon left her gaping at his disrespect. The other waiting patient, an OSU athlete, the doctor touched the toes on one foot and recommended insoles, even though if he had compared to the other foot, he’d have seen it was twice the size of the normal joints. Since he saw no immediate fractures, he didn’t even ask for an X ray. I still held out faith. They took me back and put me in a little room that looked like an old store room with a filthy sink and made me wait again. After getting some excruciating Xrays, even though I explained to the doctor all the symptoms of a torn rotator cuff or similar internal damage, I was left to wait again. At this point I was feeling light-​headed and nauseated with the pain, but all I did was poke my head out and ask for a cup of water. After it closed, I heard the attendant and another employee making snide remarks about my request. The doctor finally came in, touched my shoulder with his «magic hand» from earlier, and since the pain was internal, not external, he recommended a Sports Medicine Doctor. Granted, I expect to be shuffled off to an expert, but he never even came back to tell me anything else. He sent an RN in with walking papers, a referral, and a prescription. When I explained my misgiving with the diagnosis of «sprained shoulder» for a degrading long term injury, I was shrugged off. As I left I mumbled about how I should have just gone to Grant, to a chorus of «Go on» and «Whatever» from a number of employees standing around talking. I had to move one of their laptop carts for them just to get in to the hallway and leave. I didn’t even get directions to where the exit would be.
So, long story short, next time I’ll just walk the extra mile or two to Grant, where I’m treated like a human being with needs and not as ticket being flushed through a toilet of a triage system.

This review refers only to Labor and Delivery and post-​partum recovery.
If you’re trying for a natural childbirth, go elsewhere. OSUMC policies and culture appeared to be aimed at one thing, routing you to a medicated birth, and preferably a c-​section. The hospital does not have remote fetal heart monitors so you are forced to be tethered to the wall. Nurses will come «check» on you every 5 – 10 minutes meaning no sleep for mom. If you do not progress at their pace, they will force induction and a c-​section meaning more money for the hospital. Do not let them administer cytotec. They will not tell you this but it causes your water to break regardless of the amount of cervical dilation. Once your water breaks, you’re on a 24 hour clock to an emergency c-​section. Like a Red Roof Inn, they seemed more concerned with turning over the room than providing individualized care.
Once you’re up in post-​partum, things did not go any better. For the first 48 hours, there was a new person in our room every 15 minutes, nurses, PCAs, housekeeping, dietary staff, more nurses, resident pediatricians, etc. Again, no chance at decent sleep. Our resident pediatrician threatened to take our baby to the NICU at least three times for «dehydration», something our pediatrician said was completely unnecessary. These threats came at 2:30am when everyone was exhausted. The resident pediatrician also «forgot» our baby in the nursery and lied to us about giving her a bottle. The evidence was in a ring around her mouth.
Leaving the ward and going home felt more like a jailbreak than a moment of celebration. Our nurse had to sneak us out the back while the resident pediatrician was making rounds at the other end of the hall. My wife and I were educated about the birthing process and were able to debate the nurses and doctors on their course of treatment and we still felt bullied. I hate to think how an uneducated new mom and dad are treated.
Maybe it’ll change if Urban Meyer’s family has a baby.

I am a klutz with autoimmune issues so I’ve spent way more than my allotted amount of time in hospitals and ERs. I’m also a nurse and a Navy Brat who has lived more places than I can count on my fingers and toes. With all that taken into consideration, I feel my 4-​star review should hold some weight.
I have been to this hospital quite a few times for myself, for my former patient, and to visit friends and I am always blown away by how friendly 90% of their staff are. I’ve been to some hospitals where people were treated like a pain in the butt just for existing but I’ve never really had that experience here. It’s also a huge hospital (that I think is pretty easy to get lost in) but the staff is so helpful when it comes to finding your way that it doesn’t always feel as big as it is.
My most recent experience involved a visit to not only the ER but an overnight stay on their Clinical Decisions Unit and interactions with about a dozen nurse, aids, and doctors. Even though some of them were obviously tired and running around busy as all get-​out, not a single one of them treated me like I was a hassle. I received my diagnosis promptly, got my IV started soon after, and was shuttled up to the CDU by a friendly nurse who volunteered to help get me up there faster, even though I wasn’t her patient and transport isn’t technically her job.
Their patient financial services department is pretty great too. If you’re struggling to pay your astronomical hospital bill, they will do their absolute best to get you help. Don’t have health insurance and worry about paying your for the prescriptions they send you home with? They’ll help you find ways to get them for very cheap or free. I can’t speak highly enough about that considering how costly healthcare is.

I’ve been in their emergency room with several family members. I have been a customer, too, going in the emergency room. Their care is good and the medical workers assist consumers very well.
However, they make you wait very long with being seen unless you come in a time when they’re not busy (or have a serious medical trauma). They made an error on my billing and insurance. They claimed they filed it with both insurances, however the second insurance said they received no claim. Their billing department wasn’t helpful and refused to do a 3 way call to my insurance with me on the line. The supervisor was always busy when I called (and I worked when they were opened therefore I had to call on my breaks or lunch at work). I resolved it with filling a dispute with a regulator agency. They final submitted the claim months later!
I would ask lots of questions (bring someone along with you with notepad and pen if you have to), make sure you note who is taking your insurance, and what they’re charging you for, and what they are doing. You always want to have a check system in place because they do make errors. Make sure you review your bill in detail to verify they charges you for services you actually received! They’re one of the best hospitals, but even they make mistakes.

I gave birth here in Sept 2010. Prior to giving birth I had to go to Labor and Delivery two different times to be monitored and checked out. Both of those experiences were fine. Nothing great, nothing bad.
When I went to give birth I had a pretty good experience from the time i went in (630 on Monday morning) to the time I was discharged (Fri at noon). I had a rough labor and the nurses were very supportive and reassuring that they would do everything they could to make sure my child was born safely. When I had to go for an unexpected c-​section late in the day, the nurses, Dr’s, and other medical staff were calm and caring, even when they were rushing around. My after care was also great (except for one nurse). I had a lot of trouble getting my son to feed. Almost all the nurses (except the one) helped me try and nurse. One even spent 3 hours with me during her shift. I also was visited by two lactation consultants. Formula was never pushed on me. I felt that I was important to all the staff I worked with and never felt like just a number. The staff were also very nice to my husband who was staying in the room with me. They would get him refills of drinks, made sure he was comfortable, and answered his questions as well. I would recommend this maternity ward to any friends that were having a baby and needed a place to deliver.

They don’t read your chart. This is a HUGE problem, especially for someone like me, who has a very complex medical history.
I had been sent over here from Children’s to have a heart procedure done. My chart had been sent over ahead of time, as well as notes from my doctors, giving them a brief version of my history. Apparently, no one read this.
They wanted to give me an MRI – can’t do that, I have a magnet in my head. They wanted to give me a certain type of IV line – can’t do that, no more veins for that. They didn’t know the most basic thing about me, medically, which is that I’ve had a double lung transplant. A nurse actually asked me if I had lung problems – I thought she was kidding.
Not only that, but I had to go BACK for them to re-​do the procedure, because they didn’t do it right the first time. Some of the nurses are good, but quite a few are surly and don’t listen to you, because you’re «just the patient».

I started out using the women’s clinic for prenatal care while I searched for something better, which luckily I found something better. I know its a large facility and they see tons of people but it was pretty craptacular service and treatment all around when I expected more from OSU. My basic appointments lasted on average three hours when the actual check up part was maybe 15 minutes. They also seem to have a policy of not explaining anything to you about whats going and trying to give you shots and drugs without explaining what they are, how to use them or any basic medical information. The final straw was being told that sometimes pregnant women have blood where there shouldnt be blood and to wait a month till my next appointment instead of coming in to make sure my baby was ok, not cool.

I delivered my child here, and it was a very negative experience. The Labor & Delivery team was great until her time of birth, when everything unraveled.
In the Maternity Ward, you’ll be cared for by nurse’s aides. (These are college students considering a nursing career.) You’ll have brief visits from registered nurses twice a day and one checkup from a resident before discharge. Forget about seeing a practicing physician. It will not happen. Other highlights:
–After labor (not eating/​drinking for 24 hours), I had to ask the nurses 5 times before they brought me food. When they did, it was leftovers from a breakfast served four hours earlier.
–ESPN cameras were allowed to film all of the babies in the nursery without parents’ knowledge or consent. (It had been decorated for the OSU/​Mich. game). This is an invasion of privacy.
–Half of the hospital parking and many of the roads are blocked off/​reserved for football fans on game days. My visitors had to park at my house, take a cab to the edge of campus, and then walk to the hospital.
–I requested vegetarian food but got meat for every meal. The food is unhealthy: canned beans, pudding, and watery eggs. This is a travesty for an institution that is supposed to promote health. Bring your own meals.
–Breastfeeding support and advice was wildly inconsistent. I heard «feed her every 2 hours,» «feed her on demand,» «feed her for no more than 10 minutes,» «feed her formula,» and «never feed her formula» in the span of 2 days. One nurse tried to tell me that I was not permitted to talk to a lactation consultant until I «proved» that I was having difficulty. I was humiliated to have to let her probe my nipples with rubber gloves just to confirm what I’d already told her.
–One nurse’s aide wouldn’t let me send my baby to the nursery because the baby was crying and she believed it was my job to take care of it (those were her words). I hadn’t slept in 48 hours and couldn’t keep my eyes open.
–I was in so much pain that I couldn’t walk. I kept telling the nurse and she kept saying it was normal. Finally I got ahold of the head nurse, who I overheard yelling at the staff for not taking me seriously. Turns out my complaint was legitimate; they hadn’t been giving me the correct dosage of codeine.
–From 11 am on Friday morning until 2 pm on Sunday afternoon, they did not change my blood-​stained, sweaty sheets.
–The staff lost two of the doctor’s prescriptions, which the doctor refused to return and re-​write because she had already gone home for the day! One excellent nurse, Nadia, ended up getting a resident to re-​write them for me.
–Jeanne, the social worker who was supposed to provide paperwork proving my daughter’s birth, ended up giving us the wrong form — a document stating that I took my child from the neonatal intensive care unit without checking her out properly. When we called to ask her to give us the proper document, she refused because she was «too busy to go writing up special requests.»
I could go on, but you get the picture. Not exactly worth the $ 17,000 it cost to deliver here! I would recommend Grant Riverside instead; I’ve heard great things about it. The positive part of all this is that I contacted the HR department, who did reply apologetically. But it was a little too late to change things, and I’ll always have unpleasant memories of my daughter’s first few days on earth. Thanks to Ohio State.

Over the summer I was plagued with awful throat infections. I just kept on getting sick. I’d go to the doctor, be on antibiotics for two weeks, then I’d be sick all over again about two weeks later. It was awful. My doctor finally told me to go see a throat specialist. I had to do something, because what I was paying for appointments and prescriptions was starting to add up.
So I looked up the Otolaryngologists (throat doctors for all of us who aren’t medical students) at the OSU Med Center because, really, it was the only place I could think of that would have throat specialists. I had recently lived on campus near the OSU Med Center and was familiar with the idea that they seemed to have everything you could medically need there. Plus they took my insurance.
So I called and made an appointment. Which wasn’t easy because my throat hurt so bad. But they actually put me on the phone with a doctor who called himself Ryan. I actually never knew his last name. He was one of those cool, on-​your-​level doctors who I guess wanted to seem more like your friend than your physician. I talked to him and told him about my ailments and he talked to me for a while, asking a lot of questions and explaining what his job was. He said he’d like me to come in for an office visit, so we scheduled it for early the next week. He told he that I might need surgery.
When I went in, I was greeted by Ryan and another doctor, Dr. Forrest, who was the bigwig around there. They examined me and diagnosed me with chronic tonsilitis. They told me that I had to have my tonsils removed. I was not thrilled about this at all, but who was I to argue? They wrote me another prescription and told me to call them when I was done with my medication.
So I did. And I felt so much better. But Ryan told me to start figuring out a time in my schedule for the surgery. But you know what? I was busy that time of year and couldn’t take the time off. I haven’t been sick since and I’ve been to the doctor since then and was told that my tonsils are very healthy. So I’m not one to contradict a doctor’s prognosis, but I think they were a little quick to jump to the surgery option. Not that I didn’t trust them, but I would have liked that as my last option, and they jumped right to that conclusion.
Another time I came here to find an eye doctor. I had fallen asleep one night and had forgotten to take my contacts out. When I woke up I had a nasty eye infection. I took my contacts out and called OSU hospital, knowing they could probably get me in soon. They said to come in that afternoon, so I did.
Might I add that the parking sucks here. It wasn’t easy navigating their full parking garage with one eye practically swollen shut and crazy drivers everywhere. But I kid you not, this woman in front of me hit my car TWICE. She started backing up to get a spot and I was far enough behind her. But she was backing up straight and I had cars behind me so I couldn’t move. I honked but I was too late. She slammed right into my front bumper, then took off. But there was no where for her to run. So I followed her, and she did it again! That time I got out of my car, and she sped off and left. What a jerk! Be wary of these garages.
The reason I got to see an eye doctor so quickly was because it was a student doctor, which I didn’t mind. Except that it took me forever. I was there for almost 3 hours. They did all kinds of tests to my eyes to make sure it wasn’t scratched and put drops in to dye my eye and then to dilate my pupil. When I asked about the dilation, they said it would last most of the day. Awesome. I look crazy-​eyed with one huge pupil. They didn’t find anything wrong, but ended up giving me a prescription for medicated eye drops.
Driving home in the sunshine wasn’t fun with dilated pupils, but I had my sunglasses. So I picked up my eye drops from the pharmacy. $ 75 with my insurance! But I wanted to make sure my eye was alright so I paid it. They were about $ 200 with insurance, so at least I had a discount.
The next day when my pupil was still huge, I called the doctor’s office. They checked my file and the nurse told me the student doctor had used the strongest dilation medicine and that it would last several days. (On my next trip to the eye doctor — not at OSU — I learned there are weaker dilation drops that will make it only a few hours.) And then she asked what color my eyes were. I told her brown, and she said it lasts even longer in dark eyes. So basically… I looked like a freak for a week. I felt like a vampire avoiding the sun and I wore sunglasses most of the time, even indoors, so my friends wouldn’t laugh at my eyes. So yes, I’d say there are some drawbacks to seeing a student doctor.
OSU Med Center isn’t all bad. It’s just big and crazy and maybe not always the best choice. But they were always able to see me quickly and take a lot of kinds of insurance. It’s definitely nice to have it there and nice to have options for specialists.