Jersey City Medical Center

I wish I can give this hospital a negative 10 star. I came in when I was 10 weeks pregnant, dizzy, I can barely see and my stomach was cramping times a trillion. The nurse told me I was supposed to immediately go into fast track, however she put me back in the waiting room and I waited for over 2 hours !!! About 6 people who came after me were called before me and one pregnant women who came after me was seen immediately. This is by far THE WORST HOSPITAL I have ever been to

This place treated me very well. Walked into the ER on a Sunday night with a sprain and they did a sonogram (looking for blood clots), was X-​Rayed (X-​Rays read), wrapped up and released inside of 2 hours. That’s some pretty awesome service. Everyone was jovial (which can’t be easy in an ER), knowledgable and seemed to care about me and my situation. They have a system and it’s pretty seamless. Everyone knew their job and the registration is streamlined: there wasn’t a 68 question form to fill out because it’s your first time there. I am subtracting one star because it takes an hour to get someone on the phone when I called the hospital back to have my X-​Rays sent to a follow up doctor. I usually remember to get a copy of my X-​Rays (with the report) before leaving the hospital (don’t let them charge you for it). This way you have a copy for your doctor and of course yourself for future reference. These people are NICE, and they don’t have to be; we NEED them, they don’t need us. Thank you JCMC ER, X-​Ray, and front desk.

The ER was pretty dirty– there was blood and urine on the floor in the only bathroom for several hours. Also, there was an elderly lady at triage who was scared stiff and no one helped her. The medical care was so so but adequate but the level of support and help on the inpatient units were mediocre. Often, you wouldn’t see a nurse for hours and if you needed help, you were on your own.

I needed to schedule 2 tests…
After endless ringing, and automatic hangups– I decided to talk to the operator, whose name is Willie Mae. She made sure that we got connected to an actual human being.
That man was Sonny Cancell, who addressed all my concerns and questions fully, with great patience and respect.
Very very very grateful…

I wish that I could give this place negative 20 stars. It is literally the seventh circle of hell. If you have a gun shot wound or any other life threatening condition, you should stay at home and allow yourself to bleed out and die in peace so you don’t experience the wretched pain and neglect that accompany the ER of this hospital. The doctors are more or less non-​existent and you will never see them again once you are initially admitted. My brother’s doctor never came in to check on him after 4 hours of him being admitted to the ER for the third time in 6 days. He literally ripped his IV out, spilling blood everywhere, and ran away. The people who bothered to notice didn’t even flinch, as though it is expected behavior. This place is an utter and complete nightmare. I have seen better healthcare in rural Southeast Asia. No joke. If you are assigned to a Dr. Close, you should just contact your priest or applicable spiritual guide for you last rights, because you will never see her again.

Came here with my goddaughter and her mom when she came up with a mystery rash and fever. The wait was fine, considering that neighborhood homeless friends littered the waiting room and created an uncomfortable aroma. Can’t blame them.
I thought it was rude that when each and every nurse saw the rash, they exclaimed «oh, it’s not scabies!» Why would one automatically assume scabies for a kids rash? Were they assuming filth? Who knows.

Never ever will I come back to this hospital again I came into the ER at 7 they took my vitals and I told them I was in alot of pain they said I would go to fast track in 20 minutes its been over two hours and I’m still in the waiting room in tears from the pain. The woman at the front desk said I was next they didn’t have a bed for me. Absolute horrible service I WILL NEVER COME HERE AGAIN!!!

This could be a decent hospital, but it appears that they either don’t believe in automation or cannot afford it. The emergency room is responsive but easily overwhelmed by the volume of people who come to it. Once inside, the care is responsive and nurses empathetic. And yet… My friend needed a CT scan of his stomach. After guzzling the barium, he was scheduled for 1:30. He was not taken until 3:45 though there is a risk the barium will travel too far. When I visited the CT Scan area one of the machines wasn’t even being used. An hour later I came back. It still was not in use. I asked if it was broken and was told no. We were told the delay in the ER was because of the long line. She said «what long line? We’ve been slow all day.» Decent management — is needed to solve this. The regular part of the hospital operates in the same manner as the CT Scan process. After a day in the ER, my friend was given a room at 2:00 am. He could not sleep at all because of the noise. If the machines feeding medication are malfunctioning, the nurses station is not notified. That’s right. If your medication drip stops, nobody at the nurses station knows about it. Only the people within ear shot can hear the machines plaintive and UNANSWERED beeps. It is now 11:00 am and the attending is nowhere to be seen; even though my friend cannot sleep now because he is too congested to breathe. This was reported at 9:30 am, but to no avail. After complaining, the doctor finally showed up at 12 noon. He said we are waiting for a the results of a urine culture taken in the ER. He agreed to provide medication to clear the congestion so my friend could breathe and sleep. TWO HOURS later — after 2:00 pm — after complaining that nothing arrived, I went to a local pharmacy and bought something which cleared his breathing. Apparently my complaints made some impression because about ½ hour later, at approximately 3:00, the nurse showed up with something for his congestion. Yet they still had not brought him the medication he takes on a daily basis. I finally had to leave the hospital and go to his house to get it. At 5:00 the nurse shows up to ask him what daily medication he takes so they can order it. We told them to forget it since I had already retrieved it from home. This is medication he must take every day and he takes it in the morning. Apparently the hospital thought it sufficient to wait until 5:00 pm to even ask what exactly he needed, even though it was listed on the admissions form. After 5:00 PM I happened to bump into the doctor in the elevator. He said he ordered another CT scan without contrast to exclude the possibility of a kidney stone. We waited over an hour with nothing happening. The CT Scan area and a hospital staff member looked up the order. IT DID NOT EXIST. The doctor told me he ordered the scan. All he did was write a note in a book. He didn’t even visit the patient to tell him. Had I not run into him, I would not have known about it. I spoke to our nurse and she had the data entry people make an entry into their computer system (which happens outside of the doctor’s orders which are written on paper and put in a book) and then called downstairs to arrange to have my friend taken to the CT Scan. We were then asked to wait for the results. Again two hours passed. I asked what the service level was for reading a CT Scan and no one knew. The one radiologist reading scans was off campus, reading them from home and apparently there is no standard of how many he has to read and how quickly he must return results. In addition, once he completes his review, he posts it on the computers — BUT THEN DOES NOT NOTIFY ANYONE THAT IT IS DONE. The only way the nurse finds out is the patient has to keep asking and she has to keep looking for it. We contacted our nurse and told her we were leaving. We also wanted to make sure he had sufficient pain medication (prescription) in the event the severe pain returned. The doctor had written something for kidney stones — even though there was no evidence of kidney stones. It is my Intention to write a review of the doctor at later date. He is uncaring and incompetent. If the hospital argues he was overwhelmed with patients that day, it will only put to a lie the nonsense from their CEO when he talks about metrics and quality on the website. Without operational level agreements, there can be no quality. Its catch as catch can. They are not in control of their staff, what they do, how quickly they do it, or how well it is done. It is a total crap shoot. The only bright spot was MAY KHO, an angel nurse who checked everything, and made sure that it happened. Without her, nothing would have happened. She took responsibility and made sure the CT Scan was filed, scheduled, that it happened, and that we got the results. She is my hero.

Horrible!!! I hurt my wrist and had to get X-​rays. Next time I’ll go elsewhere or just suffer through the pain. The staff is HORRIBLE. They were rude from the moment I walked in the door. I don’t care if you’ve had a bad day, there is no need to take it out on the rest of us. The waiting area was dirty, and they left me in a curtained off area by myself for over 30 minutes while I could hear the staff just outside of it complaining about their day. It was completely ridiculous. Again I can not stress enough how awful the emergency room staff is…

Not the E.R.
This review is for the MRI building behind the E.R.
Very clean waiting area.
Efficient receptionist ladies.
MRI’s take at least a half hour per patient so there is a wait.
When we got called in they filled out the rest of the paperwork for us and while I was waiting for my husband the really nice MRI technician gave me an excellent cup of coffee so I could watch tv with a beverage.
Painless and friendly. What more can you ask for?

Came here due to a high fever/​flu and I am very grateful that it wasn’t more serious because I wouldn’t have made it out alive to write this review.
I checked in at 8:30pm on a Friday night and didn’t check out (thank God not literally) until 1:30am. And the service here is nothing to brag about. Jersey City Medical Center has a big banner hanging outside that says «Overall the Best Medical Center in New Jersey». So I figured why not give them a try. Plus it was close to home.
Boy, was I duped. I waited so long to be seen by a doctor it’s unreal. And I have insurance and am able to get medical attention. I feel terrible for those Americans who are without.
Then I was called to the back room with the other patients, the «rooms» were separated by a curtain and offered barely any privacy. But those were the lucky ones. They had me sit in the middle of the Emergency Room, right in front of a team of doctors and nurses, on a bed and this nurse had the nerve to ask me to change into a gown. Ummm… excuse me???
For one, I’m not changing in the middle of ER. The other patients have been through enough as it is. And two, even if I changed elsewhere and came back I would not be comfortable being partially nude in front of everyone.
So I gave the nurse one look and he got the message.
«Mister» said he should have taken me to a hospital in Hoboken instead. Uhhh… you think??? ;-)

Avoid the ER if you can help it. Search for alternate hospital options either in Hoboken or in Bayonne. ER waiting area appeared and smelled dirty — this room should be sterilized on a 12 hr basis, at least. The chairs don’t appear to have been cleaned in years. harboring all sorts of germs and contagions. :(Not what you want to feel at a hospital. On several ER visits I’ve had here since the opening, I have noticed this ER is a regular stopover for the homeless during late hours.
On the plus side, the staff are generally courteous and approachable.

Not bad at all. There’s some initial paperwork and such, but when I came here to check out my fever, they were quick with triage and then we waited only a short time before six of us out there were called to the back, where plenty of beds later, we were being seen by a PA.
Efficiently processed and with a minimum of fuss, it’s a pretty simple process. Fortunately nothing serious, and they have nicely printed out prescriptions and work/​school excuse forms, too.
The parking in the back is a little annoying… $ 4 for two hours, I think. And pretty full with staff parking there, too, they need to expand that parking lot a bit.

Horrible place, I told them I heard my ankle crack when I fell and when I got the ER they said can you please walk over to the Triage area. Are you kidding me?

I was not expecting to be impressed, but I have to say, I’m glad that I came to this ER.
I live really close to this hospital, so it was the logical choice. At about 5 am, I woke up w/​back and chest pains and had my husband drive me to the ER.
There was no one else waiting, and once the nurse came back to her seat (3 mins or so after I got there) she saw me immediately. The nurse who took my information down and asked me questions was a tad surly, nothing with exactly what she said, more of how she said it. But, it was also 5 AM, so she was forgiven since she’s probably been there all night.
They then led me to the back where the real ER was, many of the beds were full, and then proceeded to ask lots of questions. There was also a separate person who came around to ask for insurance information and all that other good stuff. The staff was very friendly, especially Kenny in the X-​ray room. He was also really careful and skillful about moving me into position for the X-​rays even though I was in pain because they hadn’t given me my meds yet.
The resident (Maria?) was also awesome and didn’t seem to mind answering all my questions. I’m also especially partial to her because she gave me some meds (injected) that had me seeing some pretty awesome colors in the air and got rid of the pain, pronto. She joked that this was going to make me feel like I was in the ‘70s, and boy was she right. The doctor (who’s name I sadly forgot) was also very polite and effective, and followed-​up immediately once he knew that my lab results came out.
Hospital was a bit cold, but there were plenty of extra blankets available, AND they give you non-​slip socks to wear to keep your feet warm and non-​slip. X-​rays, Cat-​Scans, the works, just to make sure that there isn’t something wrong. I guess with chest pains, you can never be too careful.
Final verdict, they couldn’t find anything, but thought there was some muscle thing, and gave me some kick-​ass drugs to take home. Doc thought it was funny (in a «are you crazy and do you need a psych consult» way) when I wasn’t happy to find out there was nothing wrong. Is there something so wrong with wanting to pin-​point exactly what is wrong so that it can be fixed immediately?!
They also gave me a print out describing what they found/didn’t find and a page of instructions (no heavy lifting, etc) given my back pains and the effects of the drug (don’t drug and drive) they prescribed. Also, they recommended a follow-​up doctor for me, since I didn’t recall the name of mine. Very thorough and I really appreciated that they went the extra step.
I was honestly not expecting much, but I could not fault anything with the care.

I have been in a number of emergency rooms in my 38 years, but I must say that the one at Jersey City Medical Center is the worst. Mainly because of the surly members of its staff.
Unfortunately, since I am new to the area and don’t yet have insurance this appeared to be my only option for what seemed to be a really nasty respiratory infection. My check in was fine, mostly what I have come to expect from any service person in Jersey City: short on friendliness or facial expression or any sort of response, long on the shoving of forms in my face with little to no explaination of what to do with them.
After sitting in the waiting room for about half an hour I heard a muffled grunt that sounded like it might have been my name.
I stood up and asked: «Did you call Michael?»
The woman with the clipboard did not respond, her face remained like stone as she continued to stare blankly at me. I took this as a yes and followed her through the doorway.
«Take off your jacket and sit there.» Was what I believe to have been her next statement. Of course, she gave no indication as to which chair she intended for me to sit. Luckily, I guessed correctly.
She seemed to roam around a bit before she came back to me.
«You’re gonna have to push that up.» She barked when she approached me. I assumed she meant the long sleeve of my shirt, so I pushed it up to my elbow. She meandered about a little more and then.
«Put that up. I gotta take your pressure.»
«What? My arm up here? What are you talking about?»
«This sleeve pull it all the way up.»
«OOOOH!»
So that was about how the rest of the day was. oh there was a moment that was also a gem:
«How high has your fever been this week?»
«I don’t know, I don’t have a thermometer.»
«oh cus you got a fever now»
«I do?»
«Yes.»
*long pause while she again stares at me blankly*
«What is it?»
«100.8″
“oh, thanks. that is kinda high.»
Anyway, from there I went back to the waiting room for another thirty minutes or so where I was called by the friendliest guy ever. He explained to me that he was getting me ready for the doctor. We did a bunch of paperwork and he explained to me what everything was, and why we were filling it out. He also explained to me in detail what I needed to do to apply as a charity case since I don’t have insurance. He did this in a respectful way that I appreciate because there is a certain amount of shame to be held for needing «charity.» He really did a great job and even asked me how I was feeling.
So then I sat in another waiting room for about two hours where I met these two cool ladies who had been in a car accident, they seemed okay but need to be checked out. They had been there already for about an hour. It was fun talking to them, they cracked me up, even though each time I laughed I felt like I was going to die from the coughing fit that followed.
Then I was called into another room where I was told to sit on this bed and wait for the doctor. I waited there for another 45 minutes until the Dr came in. He was very nice, I told him what was wrong, he listened to my breathing and told me what I had come close to guessing on my own. I had bronchitis and needed antibiotics. At the very most I spent ten minutes with the doctor.
In closing. I know that going to the emergency room was was over kill and I assume there were many people there who needed medical attention far more than I so I more than forgive the time I spent waiting. However, there is no reason to treat people with the kind of rudness I experienced from the front desk and intake staff at this hospital. The security staff were also rude as was the very last woman with whom I came in contact at the place.
I walked up to what looked like an exit, and the automatic doors didn’t open.
«How do I get out?» I asked this woman at a nearby desk.
She rolled her eyes and pointed to a button maybe ten feet from the door.
I’m sure she has to answer that question hundreds of times a day, but come on. If you are dealing with sick people, get some freakin compassion!

wow has this place come along way or what?
you can actually get a decent doctor in this place, and not wait through three pints of blood to get it…