George Washington University Hospital - Emergency Room - Washington, District of Columbia

Nikhil Ahuja

I came to this ER for back and head pain and the triage nurse saw me within 5 minutes, but I have been here for the last 7 hours waiting. I asked to get a head CT for my headaches and the doctor (5 hours later) has still not called the order in. I’m sitting in the hospital waiting room, and have asked the individual over the course of each 1.5 hours about the status, and they are just sitting on their phone. The ER staff just show apathy…there is no compassion and there is no urgency. I have worked in an ER and I understand that wait times are long- but the fact that I have asked 5 times over the course of 6 hours just shows that there is a lack of communication and time management. So disappointing.

Lauren

While I realize that healthcare broadly in the US is suffering, this experience was wild. I was sent to the ER by my doctor. The triage experience was quick. After that I waited about 2.5 hours in the waiting room which is fine, but once they brought me to a room I waited about five hours. Once a doctor came to my room they looked at me for two minutes and asked if I had been under stress lately (which feels like a question only women get) - they said I seemed fine and I said “oh so my lab work looked okay? “ and they said “your lab work?” So they said they’d check on it. I waited for so long for them to return to tell me about my lab work (hours) that a nurse said you can just go home - I looked at your labs they seem fine. Also the labs were the most basic work up and didn’t include tests for two things that would be relevant. No other exams were done, no clue what was causing the issue that my doctor was concerned about, no referral. (At one point a nurse came in my room and said I’m here to give your medicine, wait what are you here for?)

Xavier Lopez

If you’re dying, pick a better place to die.

Go to any other hospital for the ER. I can’t speak for their other services.

I was in severe abdomen pain. After the 2 hour mark they finally called my name, only to have my blood taken, 8 hours later they called for my name again, for my blood pressure, then they sent me back. I waited 10 hours and received no treatment. I never even saw a physician.

If you aren’t bleeding, seizing, or fainting, expect to not receive treatment. If you have a broken bone, it’s fixable, expect to be consistently pushed to the back of the line. Pain is personal, it’s not a medical issue until it is. Granted it’s an ER, but even for an ER, this is pushing it.

Less urgent does NOT mean forget about it.

Patients who are screaming in pain, vomiting and crouched over in agony are told to get off the floor because it’s against the rules. They are told to wait an hour or more until there is a bed. They are told to get off wheelchairs because there aren’t enough. They clearly do not have enough beds and may be clearly under-resourced. If the front of room staff has enough time to crack a joke and stop for a snack break while the waiting room is filled with 30+ seats filled with people waiting to receive care, it’s a bad sign.

After, we just gave up and the pain grew worse we drove to Virginia where we were seen in less than 5 minutes.

I received the proper care there.

B. Nicholas

Absolutely terrible experience. We sat there for 9 hours and were not seen. They continuously made mistakes with our paperwork what we had to check behind them to catch. We ended up leaving without being seen. An elderly couple beside us sat for 12 hours and ended up leaving also. And as they were sitting and waiting for their cab the staff had the audacity to ask them to wait outside (in below freezing weather, when the waiting room wasn’t even half full). The staff treat patients with little to no respect, it was truly disgusting. We will never go back again.

Azar Izadian

As a physician I was surprised at terrible quality of care in this place . George Washington University Hospital ER is absolutely the worst ER I have even seen . Waiting room that we had to wait for 5 hours was a place for homeless to spend the night and I reeked with strong urine smell. The triage nurse was so rude with no compassion for my daughter who was vomiting every 10 minutes. I had to get an uber go to Virginia to get some medicine from 24 hours CVS and give it to my daughter who I found vomiting at the corner , and no one in the ER cared to help her, for 5 hours. Inhumane and terrible .
Doctors were professional and nice.

Cynthia Hofmann

If I could give a 0 star review, I would do it. The entire ER is dirty and filled with homeless people who are only there to get a free bed, rather than because they have a serious issue. The homeless take up the resources that are supposed to be given to people who are in serious need of treatment. The ER smells absolutely horrible and is unhygienic. Waiting time is easily more than up to 8hours. They give you dirty gowns to wear that I don’t know who already wore before. Chairs in the waiting area are very dirty.
A place that should thrive on cleanliness and hygiene, I am absolutely disappointed in the ER of GWU. Please do yourself a favor and go to another hospital, even if it’s further away. It will be worth it.

Peter Willson

GWU’s ER could not be better in terms of responsiveness, quality of care, and bedside manner.
When I arrived at 1:30 AM on Wednesday so breathless (pneumonia) I could barely talk, I was greeted by a seemingly full emergency room; nevertheless, within 5 minutes the staff had made an initial assessment of my condition and I was being wheeled into a room by a technician—Andy—who began prep for treatment. Within another 5 min, Dr. Caitlyn Johnson was confirming my status and diagnosis. Within a total of 15 minutes after arrival I had been visited by 3 different physicians, treatment had started, and they fetched my spouse from the waiting room. I was treated, given prescriptions and released at 5:45 AM and awed by the speed, professionalism, and warmth with which I had been treated.

HP

Absolutely disgraceful emergency staff. The red coat Ambassadors have no business working in this environment. I got the news early this morning of an immediately family emergency. My father had gone into cardiac arrest and had been placed on life support pending consent. We rushed here and tried to hurry inside. When we got here, I pleaded with Valet to take my car quickly. When I said it was an emergency and my dad was put on life support, they said “it doesn’t matter, you have to wait”. During check in, I expressed a similar urgency and they we were similarly dismissed in an apathetic tone. When the rest of my family arrived we were told by the doctor to stay in the waiting room for updates. The security told us only one person in the family could be here and told the rest of us to move. Horrible horrible team of people. The ambassadors and security staff will forever be directly correlated to contributing to the distress faced by my family today.