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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] I recently delivered a vaginal birth at Washington Hospital Center (WHC). Here's my review:

Cons:
-Food isn't great
-There are a TON of residents. Many are first years. Some are great, others are a bit immature.
-Labor suites aren't great. Some broken lights, uncomfortable chairs, a few blood splats on the floor (from a previous patient). Outdated bathrooms.
-Mobile fetal monitoring was not available (out for recalibration, apparently)
-Postpartum rooms are like prisons. Small, cramped, steel doors, outdated, walls painted drab white and grey. I struggled not to bang into our infant in these tiny rooms with everyone coming in/out. I was desperate to get out of there, ASAP.
-Baby friendly to the point where you really can't use their nursery. 
-It's a high volume labor and delivery practice so the nurses do not always explain things that you need to know. They seem to take it for granted that you "know" things about the care of your infant.
-After 8 PM or so, you have to use the Emergency Department to get into the hospital. WHC is major trauma center so this place is packed w/ a lot of activity at night. It was a bit scary to my husband, tbh.

Pros:
-It's a teaching hospital. So, everyone is explaining out what they are doing to everyone else. Nurses are explaining things to residents. Residents are explaining your case to the chief resident. The chief resident and residents are discussing your case with the attending, etc. More eyes on you = less likely someone makes a mistake. Also, more opportunities to advocate for yourself at key decision points.
-My attending was phenomenal. When in doubt, ask to see the attending. They will come (because they have to). My attending has been doing deliveries for 20+ years.
-No pressure for c-sections. Staff kept telling me their goal is a vaginal birth.
-I found out attendings at WHC work on shifts and they all work for Medstar. 24 hours twice a week, then off. They have no incentive to push you into a C-Section. There is someone else who takes over for them after the shift is done. A nurse told me that at places like Sibley, the physicians work for private practices where they all share the on-call time. Let's say you're on call, have to go to a delivery, and your kid's got a recital in a few hours, you're incentived to get the delivery done ASAP (re: c-section).
-Nurses in labor and delivery are really top notch. Attentive, knowledgeable, and great bedside manner. Never seen anything like it. Seriously.
-WHC is a labor and delivery machine. They have everything done to a t and they have seen most everything - babies whose mothers are on drugs, extreme premature babies, complex c-sections, etc. When things get bad, they know what to do. Me and my little girl were facing some serious issues during delivery and it was clear when things got bad for us, WHC staff knew exactly what to do.
-National Children's is right next door. If things REALLY get bad, they can easily transfer your infant to Children's. They also can call in consults very quickly.

WHC is nothing to call home about as an experience, but if things go bad, this is the place you want to be. My little girl is about turn 1 mo. now and is happy/healthy.
[/quote]

A hospital is not intended to be a 4 star hotel.  You and your child received the care you needed.  Personally, I would be grateful and stop complaining [/quote]

I guess, but places like Inova can do both. Are you a crummy doc or nurse from Howard or united medical center or pg hospital by chance? Crummy providers love to define down expectations for pts. -nurse @ Inova[/quote]

Neither.  Just sick of the constant complaining.[/quote]

Yeah if only women would shut up about subpar facilities while their insurance pays thousands for the delivery,  that would be great? What a weird take. [/quote]

Sorry, but I agree with PP. Reviewing actual care? Of course. Food and rooms? Whiny.[/quote]

Blood on the floor of the room isn’t just poor housekeeping it’s potentially hazardous, so “actual care”. It’s indicative of adherence to sanitation protocols— also “actual care”.

As for food, many women don’t have someone to run down for DoorDash or have been fasting due to a c-section or prolonged labor. The fact that you think they’re not entitled to a decent meal says more about you than about the women writing here. I promise you WHC charges the same amount to your insurance as a hospital that would give you something better. [/quote]

Of course sanitation is relevant. But paint colors and “outdated bathrooms”? Are we talking chamber pots?[/quote]

Ok so you agree this isn’t “whining”. Great.

As for the bathrooms, I don’t know when (or if) you delivered babies, but I spent about 2/3 of active labor in the shower.  Not having up to date labor facilities is, again, care. Not being able to take a shower in decent  facilities after delivering a baby is, in fact, care.
[/quote]

I missed the part about no working shower?[/quote]

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