Howard County General Hospital

I give zero Stars. Avoid the ER of this hospital!! Went there thinking family member was having a stroke thank God it wasn't the case but no sense of urgency. While waiting in the ER Bays we saw several people coming in from outside entrance being escorted in handcuffs with police. Very disturbing that this was going on in ER along with patients. We finally got fed up and left. No nurse even stopped us when we left. Only after two hours they call and ask why we left and to give needed medications. Do not go to this hospital RUN!! The worse!!!

The people were very caring and I felt I was in good hands medically. BUT do not take their word for anything administratively. I had been given morphine for pain when an administrative person came in. I was told the doctor was admitting me and told to sign papers. I believed them. MISTAKE. A claim for three days in the emergency room was sent to the insurance company which was denied. Two days is the max in an emergency room. I was only in the emergency room about 6 hours then moved. This was in June, now it is October. After several calls to the hospital and contradictory information nothing is resolved. Examples are the hospital has not received a denial of the claim, they received two; another time they did receive the denial I should call insurance; another call billing was going to look into the detail of the claim I should call back; I call back, I was told I did not need to call back, they are working with the insurance. The latest call is the billing department says don't worry, when they are done working with insurance then they will send me a bill. The bill could be $5,000.00. I am worried! Bottom line is I will not go to Howard County Hospital again. The three days of care has turned into months of stress and miscommunication. Go elsewhere.

This review is based on my experience with the ER the past few times I've been there, but most specifically when I was there yesterday with my mother-in-law. From admittance to discharge, we were there for just over 12 hours. The good: The triage and waiting area nurses in the ER were doing absolutely everything they could to make the best out of a bad situation. They were hustling and doing their best to expedite testing and imaging, but there were no rooms opening up (after preliminary testing and imaging was complete, we were left sitting in the hallway for 6 hours while we waited for a room). I was very confused as to why it was taking so long, but after seeing the performance of the nurses in triage, I credited it to the hospital simply being overwhelmed, and, if that had been the end of it, I would not be writing this review. The bad: At hour 9.5, we finally were brought back to a room. Shortly upon being in the Adult ER department, I realized the cause of the long wait times. There was zero sense of urgency, and I heard more stories about some of the nurses' children than I care to hear about some of my friends' children. The nurses were sitting at their computers and chatting for the majority of the 2.5 hours we were in the room, getting up only to grab snacks, and only some of them seemed to go check on a patient on occasion. We saw the nurse and the doctor in the first 1.5 hours, then waited an hour to be discharged because our nurse disappeared. The nurse reappeared (with snacks) only when another nurse took the wheelchair from our room and asked him to promise to bring it back when he was done. Our assigned nurse stayed at the front desk and chatted with the other nurses. When the other nurse returned, he immediately went to his computer without bringing us a replacement wheelchair. I have never been in an ER where I felt less initiative, effort, and care for patients than this one. In short, if you need care that could be provided by Patient First or some other urgent care provider, please do that. If you really need an ER, explore other options before you come here.

Horrible! At this hospital for 6 hours just for a knee xray. The night nurses are rude. They stay in their personal phones and when you ask questions you get answers with attitudes, and tell us the wait time is 5 hours anyway. These reviews are real facts about this hospital. This was my first and last time coming here. I rather drive a hour away to a better hospital. I wish I could give negative stars because this 1 star is too good for this hospital. THE WORST I was here from 10pm to 4am.

This is literally the worst hospital in the country. 5 hour wait for a 7 minute visit with physician’s assistant (who was -very- nice). Would give this hospital 0 stars if i could (minus the actual PT). Seriously if there is ANYWHERE you can go besides this place I would do it. I would only come here if it was truly a life or death situation, and even then only have them stabilize you and leave.