UC San Diego Health Emergency Department (ER) - Hillcrest - Hillcrest, California

Beau Hampton

14 RNs and EDT ignored us. I counted. We were there for 10 hours; which included an incompetent EDT trying to do an ultrasound on my loved one. They screwed it up and it had to be done again. Blood had to be taken twice because they screwed that up too. Uncaring and apathetic staff that are too busy watching their phones and flirting with each other to actually care about patients.

Update on the incompetence: blood was drawn from my loved one THREE TIMES in the total of 12.5 hours that we were there. On the third time I told the RN that my loved one had already had blood taken and hadn't had anything to eat or drink in the past 10 hours and they literally just shrugged it off. Another RN couldn't administer meds through the IV correctly and squirted meds from the syringe all over the wall and into me. The gentleman working behind one the desks (long gray hair tied back in a bun, black and gray beard, glasses) is quite possibly the rudest and most uncaring person ever. I asked, "Hey, we've been here for like 11 hours, can we get some help or a timeline?" His response? "Well you can leave if you want". I told him that my loved one still had an IV in their arm and he rolled his eyes and let out a huge sigh. It's like dude, you may hate your job but c'mon man you're there to work and help people. The only way that we got any help was to repeatedly ask the RNs that were walking by to assist us. We were there from 4 in the afternoon to 445am the next day! We never even saw a room, we were kept waiting in the cold hallway.
Absolutely reprehensible behavior by everyone there.

carmine mangione

Staff was amazing. I fought with my doctor to not go he said it was an emergency. After 6 hours the MRI report and attending orthopedic resident said it was an emergency,

You will be in surgery next available they said. 24 hours no food in a crappy ER gurney in a frozen room I get. “E are admitting you surgery tomorrow”

Four hours later, you are going some one will call you with an appt so you can discuss outpatient surgery!!!!!!

No change in pain or debilitation that started the whole thing and discharge papers were wrong (copy pasta from last discharge)

STAY AWAY, START AWAY!

Can’t speak to is you are bleeding out but I wouldnot trust them.

No my fear is life time paralysis. So no worries

Patience Is The Key

When choosing a hospital you have to be very careful because you can run into some employee's (Nurses+Doctors) that are having a good day, and a bad day. You can also run into them on their best day, and be shocked that you looked at GOOGLE's 2.6 rating and said, that's wrong!

I came here today to have my jaw (broken 8 weeks prior) wire replaced because it snapped. I was concerned that my jaw would lose it's ability to heal at a faster rate of speed.

I am staying with a friend two hours east of here and there are only two emergency room/Hospitals there in that entire city and both are level 4 trauma centers. I was admitted and the doctor came in within seconds and said she couldn't do anything for me, and suggested quite a few choices, but said she would go to UC SAN DIEGO because of their reputation in the industry, so I drove...

My doctor was super cool! Beside manor is highly important besides competency of course. My doctor gave me a thorough evaluation and consulted with the on-site ENT specialist for what they should do, ended up cutting and pulling the wires+screws. Harbor UCLA said to keep it in for another three weeks but my doctor gave me the risks of keeping it in any longer on top of the CT scan they performed, thorough!

I will be transferring hospitals from Harbor UCLA to UC SAN DIEGO because of this new information I learned from my doctor today. Both hospitals are level 1 trauma centers and teaching hospitals but night/day differences immediately upon arrival to their parking lot.

My overall experience today was a solid 10/10!!!

Thank you Dr. Riley Scott

mr Sal

Horrible treatment. Came in with my mom suffering major hip pain from a hip replacement surgery they bungled. Staff seems uninnterested in helping anyone. When asked to check in a patient they kept saying to wait even though there was staff playing in thier cell phones in the back. Unbelieveably bad and inhumane staff

Lisette Cruz

If you're reading this, please go to ANY other emergency room. I went to this emergency room at 7pm with 10/10 pain (screaming from the pain) and arrived at this hospital as it was the closest to where I lived.

I was told it would be a 4 hour wait, but if I peed in the cup given to me, I would be seen in less than 4 hours. After peeing in the cup and waiting 4 hours, my partner asked the staff how long it would be until I was seen (during this time they continued to check in with other patients and not with me). We were told it would be another 5-6 hours. Ridiculous given that this is an EMERGENCY ROOM.

I ended up leaving this emergency room ASAP and going to Sharp Memorial where I was immediately attended to, had tests run, and was told that I would require emergency surgery. Had I waited another 5-6 hours at UCSD, I'm not sure what would have happened.

Also, the staff is very unprofessional and does not care about their patients. While I was there, there was a woman suffering from abdominal pain. Given that there were no seats in the waiting room, the woman laid on the floor awaiting services. I heard a nurse tell another nurse that they would need to call security on her for doing so (she was not being disruptive whatsoever). Very inhumane treatment. This woman was then escorted out by security and my partner noticed her at Sharp Memorial later on.

TLDR: Do NOT go here. Go to Sharp Memorial or literally anywhere else that is not this place.

Robert Arnold

I visited this ER & arrived at 8am. The initial reason for my visit today was the swelling of my right foot. I was greeted by a friendly RN when I walked in who quickly checked me in. My wait time was roughly 1 hour before I was seen. I was first given an ultrasound by Sara who was very pleasant to work with & then sent to another room to get bloodwork done. I can’t remember the nurses name who cared for me but he was very attentive & professional. I finally saw a doctor who later determined that I could be discharged & sent home with antibiotics after consulting with infection control. My departure time was 2:30 pm. Not sure or why of all the negative reviews of this place but everyone was superb & the ER & adjacent areas were clean & sanitary. I would not hesitate to come here again.

Tony Barnes

This is the WORST EMERGENCY ROOM IN THE WHOLE CITY DO NOT GO HERE !!!!!!! ITS A TEACHING HOSPITAL WHICH TENDS TO LEAD TO MEDICAL ERROR. Death and complications.
I went this morning at 5am with severe pain and awful chills the staff was extremely rude for absolutely no reason, I was then assaulted by the doctor which I am debating on having my attorney look into it, I got images done and left so my primary care doctor could get me in see the images and refer me to a specialist, She is amazing!!!!!!!!!!! I’ve been in excruciating pain and the doctor at this emergency room made it worse !!!!!! 1000x worse. The way he grabbed me and when i said it hurts he SAID DONT MOVE AND CONTINUED TO GRAB ME HARDER AND WORSE THAN BEFORE !!!!!! You sir should be fired !!!!! I not only felt assaulted It’s a very vulnerable area and i have a very serious health issue happening which I’ve never experienced before !!!!!!! You make me sick !
Also the place was filthy photos to show didn’t clean the room, Body fluids in the regular trash can, Prison beds that don’t adjust. Oh and a filthy blanket from 2008 that was probably cream colored for a while but they’re off brown now…. Inconceivable. Shameful. Disgusting.

Kody Bennett

I was treated with disrespect from the second I walked into the Emergency Room. The staff seems too busy talking to each other about outside of work things to help with anything going on in the building. This visit started with “it’ll just be a little bit to get our test done and then we’ll be on a treatment plan” This “little bit of time” turned into 14 hours of waiting for the lab and CT department to scan me and get me to Pre-Op for “emergency surgery” which apparently isn’t too urgent because not a single person was in any hurry to get anything done. I laid there in excruciating pain for the entire time and Benjamin, the ER nurse, seemed to be the only one who actually cared and understood how crazy it was that I was there for so long. After FINALLY making it back to pre-op, I had an entirely different group of surgeons than the ones I met with that said they would be preforming my surgery. This new group of surgeons were loudly complaining about patients coming in needing help the entire time they were taking me back. I was very uncomfortable and they did not do anything to help comfort me or make it less scary. After waking up, I was having a panic attack and the nurse was not helpful and were making it worse. I asked multiple times for help to calm down and I asked that my partner be called into the room to hold my hand and they acted like he couldn’t be reached until i specified he’s my emergency contact and i need him immediately. After making it back to my room I finally was able to meet with my partner and now I am awaiting discharge papers. If anyone is considering this lousy hell hole excuse of a hospital for any help, drive to any of the other 14 in San Diego. This was my first and last time visiting this place and would love to save you the trouble.