Duke University Hospital

Recently gave birth here and the experience was pretty bad.. If it wasn’t for my nurse Hannah, it probably would have been alot worse. She was the best nurse I’ve ever had, she truly cared and did everything she could to help me and make me feel comfortable. The labor and delivery room was great, the doctors, the two women who did my epidural, the doctor who delivered my baby, all great! Now lets skip to the postpartum room.. ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE!! Literally a coat closet. The “chair” for my husband to sleep on for 2 days was horrible, my bed that moved by itself every 30 seconds was horrible .. The whole entire room was HORRIBLE. Also, it seemed like the nurses and staff didn’t care about me at all.. No paper towels, toilet paper ect. Only one woman who came in and cleaned up really nice for me and stocked everything. After just having a baby and being put in a closet I just cried and begged to leave and by the grace of god they let me leave a day early. Honestly ruined the whole experience for myself and my family, very disappointed this being my last baby.. Considering this is Duke hospital, Im even more disappointed.. 100% Disgraceful

My husband had surgery at Duke in October. He had an excellent surgeon and we are so grateful to him and those that were in theater with him. Pre-surgery we had excellent care from those in that department. My husband was taken back for his procedure and the text system kept me informed for part of the surgery. The messages stopped and after almost 2 hours my anxiety levels started climbing. I went to the desk and asked if there was perhaps a problem with the messaging system as there were no updates for 2hrs. The man on duty sarcastically asked me if I would like him to stop the surgery and get the surgeon to come speak to me. I was too taken aback to form a response, i just said no of course not. I was just concerned. His response? Well if there was anything to be concerned about the surgeon would be out here talking to you. This was just rude, unhelpful and without empathy. Thankfully my husband was fine and I was sent to the Recovery unit. The nurse on duty was friendly and said he had asked for a room. As we were only staying overnight, we were wheeled to the surgical unit and were put into a curtained off ‘room’. The surgeon had instructed my husband to walk as soon as he was able. When we mentioned this to the nurse she said ‘the surgeons have their ideas and we have our own. No need to walk until tomorrow morning’. We were not satisfied with this. My husband insisted on attempting to walk2, at this point the nurse became visibly irritated. She brought a walker and my husband was able to do a lap around the ward. The nurse aide really should consider a different career, Kiyana, while emptying the catheter bag at 2am managing to spill the urine all over the floor, so switched the overhead light on to clean up. A few hours later when handing over to the day shift staff, she couldn’t remember if she had emptied the bag or not. There was no rest the entire night - it was noisy, loud and no thought was given to recovery. If you have to stay ask for a room far away from the surgical unit ! I do want to mention the man in the Atrium cafe that makes the burgers - even though he was closing up, he made sure i got something to eat - he did it with a smile. However,, the lady that pushed the wheel chair when my husband was discharged was the most unfriendly person we have had the misfortune to meet. All in all we are thankful for the surgeon and his team. The overall experience with those at Surgery check in and the Surgical unit was unpleasant. The hospital really needs to focus on training people in appropriate patient interaction. These people are employed to serve and should be trained in empathy and compassionate interactions. I appreciate they probably deal with unpleasant people, but they should l differentiate between people that are respectful towards them and those that aren't.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to this Emergency Department (ED). This was the worst experience I have ever had with an emergency room wait. My daughter had a Chronic disease and I took her to Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC Emergency Department to be seen for her pain. We arrived and checked in a 4pm. At 2:30am we still had not seen a doctor. The waiting area was packed (approximately 60 people) sick people and they were all sitting and waiting to be called...I encountered a woman who had been there for 11 hours and still hadn't seen a doctor. There were also other people there that had been there since 9am and still hadn't seen a doctor by 1:30am. This was beyond ridiculous!!! Duke University Hospital surprised me because I thought it was a prestige Hospital with a good reputation. Since this was our 1st time there, I was completely wrong. The staff behind the counter was laughing and having a good old time while people were sick waiting. This wait time was RIDICULOUS and inhumane to people! After 5 hours I should have left but I wanted my daughter to be seen and didn't know the wait of other Hospital. I finally decided to leave at 2:30am, ask the nurse to take my daughter's IV out. We sat there for 10 1/2 hours in the wating room to see a doctor and would have sat longer but i decided enough was enough...I ended up taking my daughter to Duke Raleigh ED in Raleigh and was in the back in an hour seeing a doctor and getting the medication she needed. Someone needs to do better! I have NEVER in my life!

My wife gave birth here, and unfortunately, it wasn’t a great experience. The birthing and postpartum rooms are both very small, and while a few nurses and one midwife were kind and compassionate, most of the staff we interacted with were not. As first-time parents, we naturally had a lot of questions, but many of the nurses seemed impatient or dismissive, showing very little empathy or understanding. If you work in Labor and Delivery, compassion should be part of the job. During the birth, I became extremely sick with food poisoning and had to go to the ER, and the anesthesiologist made an awful and unprofessional comment about me while I was unwell. That experience, combined with the overall lack of empathy from the staff, left us very disappointed. Duke is supposed to be a great hospital, but our experience didn’t reflect that reputation.

Brilliant. Extraordinary. I didn’t feel like going back home (for real!) as I loved the care!! Starting my care at Duke ER, Nurse April noted all my issues well, and I was later seen by Nurse Rona who administered the painkillers through IV and informed me about every detail. I was then seen by Dr. Priyanka Sista who ordered a CT Contrast immediately and calmed me down when I was very overwhelmed. I wanted to run away (due to being so jittery), but she explained to me how important it was to get checked out properly. She transferred my case to Duke Neurology under the exceptional care team led by Dr. Stephanie Reyes. Special shoutout to Nurse Megan and Nurse Rebecca on 8th floor DCT for giving me the best professional care I could ever deserve. Thank you so much Megan & Becky! Also to NA Lucy for always checking my vitals on time without any delay. Team led by Dr. Reyes was very professional & methodical - she loves answering questions & queries and seems to be a very nice person overall. Much gratitude to Dr. Athavi Jeevananthan for staying in touch throughout the course of action especially re: endocrinology. They made sure all my imaging and blood work were negative, and the major issues were ruled out pretty quickly. Very professional, a very empathetic experience. I have so much respect for all the people in the healthcare world. Thank you so very much. I’m so grateful ❤️❤️.