Shands Hospital At the University of Florida

Big and nice hospital. Lots of young college students, and a nice size food court.

This is the greatest hospital around they saved my daughters life. Doctors and nurse, aids are all top notch and know how to treat a patients and there families.
We were here for 3 surgery’s and cancer treatments and radiation. We even had to stay over night a couple of times with the surgery and were very accommodating with a hotel and food to eat.
We live 80 miles away and made many trips back and forth that i could fall asleep and the car would drive it self.
Very clean and well maintained hospital with a Wendy’s and Subway too. I thank them for putting up with a new born baby crying and know it had to bother them because it bother me and i was holder her ;-). Would not had gone anywhere else then Shands Hospitals Gainesville, Fl.

This review is mainly for the ER at the new (South Tower) Shands Gainesville facility. I was transferred over to «Big Shands» after being seen at Shands’ Springhill ER and it was decided the groin/​tight muscle pain I had from a sports injury probably needed further diagnostics. Since I was transferred over (though I drove myself, I saw no need for an ambulance – I mean we’re talking an accident-​prone dude and bball not a heart attack here) they were ready for me about 15 minutes after I arrived and I was whisked down to main radiology where the ultrasound I required was performed. I had to wait about another hour before being taken back to a room in the ER and seen by a physician’s assistant and about two more hours before I was released after the PA reviewed the radiology findings and so forth. However, they were slammed. That same PA had to handle a stroke patient and I saw doctors and nurses everywhere tending to people. So I don’t fault anyone for the wait, which still pales in contrast to some horror stories of whole nights spent in the ER.
Alas, I heard a lot of complaining from other patients about the wait and the staff. I was in an open bay area of the ER most of the time so I overheard many conversations whether I wanted to or not, and many people were saying things like «this hospital doesn’t care, they just want your money!»; «they get paid more the longer they keep us in the ER, so they keep us as long as they can»; or «the nurse don’t do nothing to help me». Ok folks, I’ve worked in medical research myself and I will tell you something: the Shands staff DOES care. You don’t do ER medicine if you don’t. It’s not that high-​paying for docs nor nurses and it is exhausting. Furthermore, I saw staff everywhere: nurses, residents, PAs, two attending physicians, and a host of other staff. Everyone was working hard, too. They were very busy tonight and I fully believe they would have had things moving faster if possible and it just wasn’t possible. But despite that, I saw a lot of small kindnesses and the PA who saw me was superb and took her time to talk with me. I saw a resident go get a cup of water for an elderly patient, I saw a nurse playing with a kid and her ballon. There is no lack of caring here.
And of course, it’s Shands so the quality of care is pretty much top-​notch, too. I will admit the ER of Florida Hospital Orlando seemed better-​managed and more high-​tech when I was there (one single time), but Shands is better than most and fitting for the Level-​One Trauma Center it is rated as and the university teaching hospital is serves as for UF.
A tip for other patients: don’t be sullen or bossy. If you want to ask someone why your doctor hasn’t been by for an hour, instead of saying «what the hell is going on in here?!» do like I did and say «I know the doctors are very busy with patients worse off than me, but I just wondered when mine may be back by with my results?». Everyone here is working under pressure and doing life-​saving work, please be kind to them and they’ll probably be kinder in return. You could not pay me a million dollars a day to do what these ER nurses do – I salute them.

In my opinion, the staff is very friendly. I’ve been bringing my daughter to his hospital for some time now and haven’t had any issues.

I would rather travel to Orlando, Jax or Tampa. My only and last ER visit to Shands ended with me walking out. After the registering nurse beat the crap out of her computer, calling it sev. derogatory names, she very curtly decided my doctor was wrong, I didn’t need to be in the ER and I needed to find a new doctor (this was the first person/​impression I got). She was such an angry loon, I left and drove home.
I have seen sev. specialty docs at Shands and my primary (for now) is a UF doc. To sum up Shands in general. There are three types of tier 2 hospitals in Fla that specialize:
The Mayo — quick, pro active, efficient, everyone that works there shows compassion, tag line for the Mayo — «git er done»
The Moffitt — very compassionate, gentle, efficient, generally want to solve and fix, tag line for the Moffitt — «you’re not leaving here, til we figure out what’s wrong with you»
Shands — we’re the best, we don’t have to like you or be competent… because we’re the best… test, test, run more test, as long as you have insurance… test, test, test. Did we say, we’re the best? tag line — «if you have an out of pocket maximum, we’ll help you meet it, then send you off to be someone else’s problem to fix, we just need experience for our students… we didn’t say we were going to fix you… Dugh!»
The most pretentious, patronizing, dismissive medical community in North Central Florida… and Florida in general. They need to change the name to UF and drop Shands altogether, because this Hospital is equivalent to going to a massage school for a massage or a beauty school for a hair cut — you already know going in, it’s a crap shoot on what your experience will be, you just hope for the best. For all the money and freebies this school gets, for all the money home owners have to shell out to pay what UF doesn’t, you’d think the powers that be would strive to set a precedent rather than give birth to arrogant, lazy, belittling medical professionals. Don’t believe the Hype.

I’m ashamed to say that the school I love is affiliated with this joke of a hospital. The ER staff is inept and callous, and the system itself in utter disarray. I waited over 5 hours, then left. Others were waiting over 8 hours, many of whom were there for extremely serious issues (chest pain, abdominal pain, etc.). Place is an absolute disgrace and the nurses, doctors, and administrators should share collective shame. I wouldn’t go back if my life depended on it (pun intended…).
***Interesting to note that the 20 1-​star reviews are curiously excluded from the «recommended» comment section, along with an exclusion from the overall rating of Shands. Rather dubious…

OMG! Now, I understand that they are a TEACHING hospital. & I know they help the community as a whole… but, I went into the ER at 2:00pm on a weekday (Jan 21, 2015) & the ER was standing room only! They had so many people in there, that after 2 ½ hours, they had only taken my vital signs. Granted, I was not brought in by ambulance, & I was not bleeding. I was needing to be checked for a possible blood clot in my leg, but still… I have never seen anything like this place in my life! We spoke with the intake person & she said that the wait was probably close to 6 hours. We decided to go the the smaller ER on 39^th Ave. We went strait over & I was admitted pretty quickly but was told that they would have to transfer me back to the main hospital because they close the ultrasound down at 5pm! So, after we waited another 6 hours, with having nothing done, I decided to leave & come back in the morning. The Dr. told me to promise to be back by 8am & they would send me right over to the ultrasound. I did as told. When I got there the next morning, they had no idea what I was talking about & the morning staff tried to get me to go back to the main ER by telling me that they dont have access to ultrasound there. I just cried! Thats all I could think to do. After that, I got a chance to speak with 3 other people & found out that yes, they do have access to the imaging right across the street but I would have to be admitted & wait a few hours to get in! THAT IS WHAT I WAS THERE FOR! OMG! I got admitted & was taken across the street to the imaging department within 30 minutes! Once the staff stopped trying to get rid of me, the service was pretty quick & the Dr herself was very caring & competent. The rest of the staff was lazy, rude & sat at the desk jokig & playing on their cell phones most of the time. And we still don’t know what is my medical issue, but we do know its not a clot. Considering the amount they bill you, they should be nicer to people. And if they are there anyway, why not do your job? why try to get rid of people! If you dont like your job people, get a different one!~ Don’t make sick & injured people feel worse than they already do… none of us wants to be there, & we sure dont want to have to pay to huge bills that come from a visit there either. This ER is a total fail in my opinion & I hope no one else has the same treatment there I did!

I am an unhappy duchess. bad experience with valey 2 days in a row. lost keys to one vehicle left keys in another smelled of skunkweed only when key cabinet was opened. next day parked my brandnew and washed car in the mud and velet tracked it into the vehicle and even on the interior of door exiting changed my radio station to a hiphop loud volume omg… after 30 minutes i cooled down and called supervisor they will address the radio station being changed. its a start…

My advice to anyone seeking medical care is to go to another hospital. You are just a number here and not a patient. I would say 95 percent of the physicians here are entitled and rude. They feel that they are doing their patients a favor by seeing them when it is in fact, their job. They are getting paid. As soon as they walk out of the room you would not believe the ridiculous and obscene comments I have heard physicians make about their patients. Granted there is always an exception to the rule and not ALL of them are like this but like I said, about 95 percent are. Its a shame that people come here expecting quality care and they get treated so poorly. I cannot speak for any of the outlying clinics in the area, but stay AWAY from the hospital.

I have personally stayed at Shands for 14 days. I was on the pediatric floor for 7 of the days and then all the way up on the 11^th floor for the last seven days. I have been to the emergency room here at least four times and many times for surgery follow up. I think by now I am qualified to write a review for the hospital.
The emergency room is slow! I have had to wait for more than four hours sometimes. This is crazy for someone that is in an extreme amount of pain. The nurses once you get into a bed in the emergency room all think that they are the best. I had to go back after being out of the hospital for a day and had no veins left for them to put an IV in. I requested one of the head nurses because I already had a burst vein and nowhere for the IV. The nurse told me that she was very good at putting in IV’s and she would take care of it. After 15 of trying to find a vein she said that I didn’t have any usable ones and she was going to have to use one in my foot! She wanted to put one in my foot! Oh and when she did get one in my foot she burst the vein. YAY! Now she is telling me that she will have to use one that is in my neck. At this point I told her that she needed to leave and bring the head nurse over. She did not listen to me but when my mom told her she was going to report he she left and sent the head nurse in. Sure enough the head nurse got an IV in my arm. I also had to have a spinal tap done while in the ER. Dr. Ward did the spinal tap and all I can say is ask for him if you ever need one! I was in no pain during or after wards. By four hours after I was out walking around talking with my friends. I will say that I think that the resident that was helping Dr. Ward must have been more nervous than I was. He was responsible for making sure to hold me in the right position the problem was that he was shaking and therefore I was shaking. But all that I wanted to say to him was can you move just a little to the left so that I don’t have to stare right at your crotch during this process!
The nurses that are up on the pediatric floor are great they love to work with the young kids that are there. I felt a little out of place as I was 18 on the floor but apparently if your doctor is a pediatric doctor you go to the pediatric floor. I will say though that the floor is very loud. I understand that many of the patients are young, but then do not put me in a room with a screaming four year old. The turnaround of patients here is very fast. I had at least 3 different roommates in my seven days that I was there.
The 11^th floor is much quieter and you are more likely to have a room to yourself. I never had a roommate while I was on this floor. If you know anything about this floor though you know that it is for people that are very sick and spend many days in the hospital. The nurses on this floor are very good. I only ever had one that I asked to leave me alone and send someone else. I think she thought she was a doctor and knew everything. Newsflash for her, You don’t! Call the doctor and find out what is going on!
I underwent surgery twice, both times with Dr.Pincus. He is awesome and cares a lot about his patients. He loves doing surgery but understands that you might be scared for it.
The fact that this is a teaching hospital is great. I was asked to sign a paper stating if it was alright to have residents in the operating room or not to learn. My mom was in charge during my first surgery and she agreed with me that it was important to have the students there for them to learn as someday if I need surgery again, I want someone that got a lot of hands on learning. I approved them both time to have students in the operating room and encourage others to do the same. Remember they need to learn as in the future they will be doing surgery. Bedside manner needs to be worked on for some of these residents. While I was still in surgery one of the residents went out and told my mom all the gory details of what was going on.
Overall everyone here is fairly good but some are just absolutely amazing! I would love for Shands to do some upgrades to the patient rooms though so that it is not so depressing for both the patient and the families.

Our entire family just had a horrifying experience at Shand’s Medicual ICU. I feel sorry for anyone who has to be treated there — filthy (our father passed away from the infections he caught there while being «treated»), the doctor’s (especially the lead doctor who controls the unit) are terrible and the nurses are a crapshoot — some were decent, but most were brutal — didn’t care and were just going through the motions without any feeling or show of emotion or being human. Unfortunately, for ICU patients, you usually cannot pick/​choose a hospital, but for those going through (or with a relative going through) a risky surgery, etc. that may require this unit to care for you if complications arise, please look elsewhere. The place should be written up.
:(