University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center

I gave birth to my son here in February 2016 and the labor, delivery and recovery nurses were AMAZING! I decided against preparing a birth plan in advance and I can honestly say never once was any decision forced upon me. Anything that concerned me, my health or my son was always directed to me in the form of a question and my decision/​choices were honored. Because of this, I had the birth that I wanted, all natural, immediate skin to skin and to breastfeed before any tests or other routine checks were performed.
So you may be thinking, why four stars versus five? Unfortunately the lactation consultants were not helpful at all! I suffered with bleeding and blood blisters and the only «solution» that was offered was to keep trying. After meeting with them every day of my stay, a very kind, warm and friendly night nurse was my saving grace when she offered me a breast shield, shells for healing and lots of lanolin. Earlier in the day I had to request a pump because none of the LC’s after hearing and seeing my discomfort made that option available either.
All in all, I’d recommend a reevaluation of the LC’s at the hospital as it could make or break a woman’s (or first time mother in my case) decision to breastfeed if she cannot do so without pain and discomfort. After reaching out to independent LC’s it was disappointing to know that in their community it is well known that the LC’s at St. Joe’s are completely unhelpful and unreliable.
**The lady who does the breastfeeding classes was not available during the time I gave birth and recovered so this review is not a reflection of her services provided at the hospital. **

This is for the emergency room only.
I slipped on ice and broke my wrist in the wee hours of the morning walking my dogs,
I was in and out of the ER in under 2 hours, and seen in under 15 minutes.
If you live near by this place isn’t bad at all for an ER.

This’s the worse facility we have ever seen. 5 hours and still waiting. What the f**k. I would better bear pain then come here.
Spending time for test only to make money. It’s most profitable business and human are there sources.

This is a pretty-​looking hospital. It was bought by University of Maryland in its war with Johns Hopkins for domination of the Baltimore-​metro area, and it has lots of shiny, expensive equipment. I would only come here for heart operations or specialty appointments.
Everything else is abominable. On one hospital stay, we waited 2 days before seeing a doctor. During another hospital stay, we were eventually discharged 4 days later because the sole doctor in the unit was so overworked that she couldn’t see my father at all. The nurses, to their credit, were very nice.
For hospital visits and doctors’ visits, the billing department forgets/​disregards our secondary insurance, processes only the primary insurance and overcharges us every single time. It takes phone call after phone call to (if I’m lucky) correct the mistake. This time, I’m paying the erroneous final bill I will ever take from St Joseph (I’ve been disputing it for a full year and I’m tired and want it done with before it gets sent to a collection agency), and I’m switching all doctors visits to GBMC.

After my hysterectomy while being wheeled into recovery I heard one nurse say to the other that I really moved around a lot. The other nurse yelled for me to put my right leg down. I was uncomfortable and barely coherent. Woke up with a nice nurse in recovery and was sent home less than 3 hours later. Thank you Obamacare for making this an outpatient surgery.
Woke up the day after my surgery and had swelling and bruising under my right eyebrow and a bruise behind my right shoulder. I called Patient Advocate at the hospital to let them know. The person I spoke to began nervously rattling on and talking over me as she tried to find any reason for my injury other than the hospital being at fault. She quickly read over my lists of supplements to see if they could cause eye injury, then told me there were no notes in my medical records indicating I was injured. She then told me it would be «hard to prove.» Mind you I never mentioned suing the hospital.

Waiting…3.75 hrs and counting. Don’t worry about us, nothing to see here… Apparently the doctor is «very busy». Good thing this is an emergency… Worried to think of if it weren’t.

Amazing hospital! I hurt the left side of my neck and back and it was painful to move, so I came to their ER. The staff was friendly and helpful. There was no wait time at all to check in. And I was seen relatively quickly by the doctor once they took me into the back room (or whatever it’s called). The doctor listened to me and prescribed medication based on MY personal needs rather than a one-​size-​fits-​all approach (which I have received in other ER’s). I had a great experience here and will be returning if I’m in the area and need medical care.

4÷23÷14
Never been to this hospital before. My sister just had her baby and of course I had to come see my beautiful niece. My sister switched to this hospital and I now know why. Parking was easy; as they have a parking garage and clear signage. It was decently priced based on the hourly ratings. The only downside is if you are a patient you must pay as well.
The hospital is beautifully designed and the staff are oh so nice, helpful, and friendly. My sister was on the labor and delivery floor. So when you check in at the information desk they take you driver’s license and give you a badge where you need to swipe in and out. There is no unauthorized access which is a great feature for this special area. All the nurses on this floor were very nice and helpful to my sister during her time there.

I had my daughter here and I cannot say enough good things. Everyone I dealt with was so nice! So helpful! It was like being in a hotel! Wonderful hospital for new mothers — highly recommend! Oh but like all hospitals you may want to have your family or friends bring your meals… yucky food. Haha

So beautiful now after the renovations.

After much contemplation, I’ve decided to give St. Joe’s a 4-​star rating — with reservation. This is because some things were simply outstanding, while others… were not so good.
First, the backstory (quick, I promise): I had a lingering leg infection that wouldn’t heal. Turns out that it was because of (undiagnosed) diabetes that entitled me to a 4-​day hospital stay. ’nuff said. Now, for the review.
The positive:
— The staff, for the most part, were absolutely WONDERFUL to me. They did their best to make sure I was stabilized, had the medicines I needed, and without exception did what they had to do with as little discomfort to me as possible.
— Their diabetes educators are, in a word, awesome. If you end up diagnosed with this awful condition, this is the place to go to get information and counseling about it.
— Facilities are great. Very modern, clean, and with the latest in technology. I couldn’t have asked for better.
Now, the negative:
— I was not always informed of what was going on. 2 days into my 4 day stay, the staff started to come into my room with protective gowns and masks on. When I asked for a reason, I was told that I was being tested for MRSA, which was NEVER brought up to me as a concern, and not until halfway through my stay. Needless to say, I FREAKED out. (They were quick to reassure me, but STILL. And, no — I don’t have it. :p)
— I kept being woken up every hour on the hour for medicine, pills, a visitor, something. It was VERY difficult to get any sleep and I was hollow-​eyed and exhausted by the end of my stay. This is probably a routine thing in all hospitals, but it REALLY affected how I was feeling and I think I may have even stayed longer because of it.
— One of the overnight nurses turned a bed alarm on, which prevented me from getting up to go to the bathroom. I understand that this is procedure and they don’t want me to fall, but really — if I’m ambulatory and can move by myself, this isn’t necessary, you know? Let me retain as much of my dignity as I can.
— Food was just «so-​so». Some things were surprisingly good. Try the baked fish. :p
In the end, I’d come back here again if I needed emergency care. The staff WILL treat you like royalty.

Disclaimer, my son was born here 11 years ago, so I have a bias.
He was a difficult birth and the team of doctors who cared for him assured that he would turn out to be not only healthy, but an exceptional kid.
I hadn’t been back since then until today.
Whoa Nelly!
They have done a MAJOR upgrade to their facilities.
What a well thought out, warm and welcoming lobby.
All of the staff I interacted with were focused, helpful and patient.
We are fortunate to have them in our town.

I love this hospital. I have been there a couple of times, once recently when my son broke his hand and required an ER visit. We were seen within 5 minutes and out the door with a splint and a sling within an hour and a half. Previously, I was there for a miscarriage at 14 weeks. They were wonderful. The baby’s body was blessed and was part of a group burial at a cemetery here in Baltimore. I am astonished that in this day and age, a hospital would go this far to make a mother feel so special. I am now expecting another and plan on using this hospital for the birth. I wouldn’t go anywhere else!

My son was scheduled for minor thumb surgery here last Friday.
Located in Towson it’s convenient to get to. the roads inside the hospital grounds can be a little confusing as it’s not very clear how to get to the main building and where to park but I figured it out eventually.
The check in and prep all went smoothly. Dr Zamani and the staff seemed very friendly and helpful. There was one crabby nurse but there’s always one right? The hospital is clean and well kept and modern. The waiting area is comfy and roomy.
The surgery went off on time successfully, recovery from anesthesia went as expected he was in a happy helpless blissful stupor for a while, why cant I keep my rebellious angsty 18 year old in this state indefinitely? Oh well the drugs wore off and we were given instructions for aftercare and off we went.
Professional but very warm and caring and geared to keeping you informed all of everything.
I do like.
Two thumbs up for Saint Joes!

I’ve been really torn on what to rate this hospital to be honest. A few years ago I was experiencing really bad chest pains and had a horrible experience at GMBC which I was misdiagnosed. I went to St. Joes on and Thursday and they were incredibly helpful and found out exactly what the problem was and got me in for surgery the following Monday. So all in all that was a 5 star experience.
Then a little over 2 months ago my father suffered a really bad stroke. He was admitted into the hospital for around 2 weeks. Most of the staff was really friendly and very helpful when it came to helping my dad. There were some minor problems and some not so helpful staff. And I don’t mean unhelpful because they were incredibly busy, just unhelpful because they didn’t feel like it.
After he got out, he went back in about a month later from another stroke and his condition was much worse after it. It was pretty much the same as the previous visit. He was scheduled to attend a rehab facility; we just didn’t know when he would be transferred there. Imagine my surprise when I went to go visit my father and he wasn’t there. I was told that he had been discharged and that they had tried to call me, but they couldn’t tell me where he had gone.
First off, even though I am his daughter, I am not his primary contact. So why they would call me in the first place is beyond me. I also never received this phone call. To make matters worse, when I asked where they had sent him, they said they couldn’t tell me. So they called me to tell me they were discharging him, but when I was standing right there, they couldn’t tell me where he was. Makes sense right?
Second, my father is very confused about just about everything right now. So to transfer him to another facility without anyone there left him absolutely terrified. The rehab facility didn’t even know that he was going to be transferred there when he showed up. But to me, it doesn’t matter what type of condition the patient is in, you should never discharge them without someone there to be with them. And if you are sending them to a rehab unit of some sort, they should most definitely know that they are coming over.
Not to mention that their cafeteria has some really weird hours, so most of the time you’re left with this sub shop that is nothing more than a rip off of subway. When you can get into the cafeteria, the food isn’t that good and it’s highly over priced. But it think that’s the standard for hospitals now.
So that is why I am torn to give them any higher or any lower. Most of the staff is very knowledgeable and extremely friendly, however they lack a lot of professionalism that is needed when it comes to important matters.