Brackenridge Emergency Center

I cut my arm open on some glass and headed to the closest ER for stitches, which happened to be Brackenridge. The metal detectors at the door were a surprise, but the staff was friendly, helpful, and gentle. I was quickly checked in and taken to a triage curtained area where my temperature, weight, pulse, and blood pressure were taken and my wound was wrapped. While I was in triage, my partner was directed to the visitors desk to get a badge so she could join me in my room.
Then I was directed to wait in the waiting room until my name was called, which was less than 10 minutes later. I was taken to a private room, given ice for my arm and a warmed blanket for the rest of me, and the room temperature adjusted. My nurse and doctor came in and gave my partner a chair and showed her where to plug in her phone to charge while they looked at my arm, talking me through everything they did. It was recommended I get an x-​ray in case glass was in the cut and the x-​ray tech came quickly and worked fast. Then the nurse came back in and gave me a tetanus shot. All of this only took about 45 minutes from arrival. We then waited a while longer for the doctor came back. When he did, he apologized for the wait and gently and efficiently did my stitches and bandaged me up.
The nurse came back in with paperwork and gave us more bandages to take with us for the next day.
Everyone was friendly, helpful, and thorough. They treated me like a person, not a body that they were working on.

The actual visit wasn’t bad. The nurse and doctor both had pretty good bedside manner, however that didn’t make my experience with the hospital better.
I was told to go there for an ultrasound because I was in severe pelvic pain. They did that, along with an exam.
The next day I recieved a call from the hospital, and missed it. I was never able to find out what I was being called for, not only that, but upon asking the question «How can you not possibly have an idea of who may have called… (still continuing to ask if they could forward me to someone who may have test results, guessing that was it…) *click*» before I could finish my question I it as as hung up on. I didn’t swear, nor did I yell or anything. In fact I was just scared that maybe something came up and I have no clue so I was doing the opposite almost crying… so I filed a complaint and never heard back…
Fast forward to a month later I finally receive the bill TEN TIMES MY ESTIMATE. I understand if it was a couple hundred off, but it was several grand off.
Upon inspecting the bill I’m seeing charges for services I never recieved. Of course, I call the billing department to see what’s up, and after being told a 2 minute wait, I waited 20 minutes to be hung up on after asking about what’s going on… again not yelling. I’m literally crying because I have no idea how I’m going to pay for a 5k ultrasound… and I’m hung up on with no reason why. Filed a complaint on that, hoping to hear back but I doubt it…
I was able to get through to someone, who was very nice… but unfortunately unable to answer my questions.

The good news is I clearly know now where NOT to go if I or my wife need a hospital.
My step-​dad was brought here on recommendation by the ambulance driver (who I hope was well paid for that terrible recommendation) and from the beginning until he was discharged, all we saw were long waits, an ever rotating cast of supposed experts who obviously don’t share details who ask all the same questions repeatedly unaware of recommendations from the prior colleague who had been in 30 minutes earlier. Yes, we encountered a nurse or two with a decent bedside manner, but it was hard to come away with anything other than these people genuinely don’t care about their patients and don’t really want to be bothered.
Mostly it was just difficult to get information. My step-​Dad, who had obviously suffered a stroke, was there for the better part of a day before receiving anything and before the family was given any sort of prognosis, and while they did perform a CT scan somewhat quickly, it was more than 24 hours before we heard anything about what the findings were. It could easily be that everything they did was proper procedure, but for a family wondering if their loved one was going to be OK who know that stroke victims often have a very limited time to receive treatment before permanent damage occurs, the general lack of communication was very disturbing.
Mostly he just lay in bed in the ER doing nothing and not being given anything, with the family wondering what was going on. People would come in, look, ask him to move his arms and legs, write stuff down and walk off. 30 minutes later someone else would come in and do the same thing. Very little was said to the family and when we did have questions, they answered very quickly and vaguely. At one point, a doctor came in and when we asked why nothing had been done even though he had been there about 10 hours, the doctor actually said «we have done something. We have him lying flat and we are administering fluids». We then had to point out that there was NOT, in fact, an IV anywhere in the room and that since he arrived at 10:30am (it was now around 9pm), he had received no fluids and nothing to eat or drink whatsoever. I’m sorry, but that’s just blatant incompetence. Upon realizing his own incompetence he simply said he would check into it and walked off. We had many such incompetent encounters.
They eventually transferred him to a room around 1am (after that 10:30am arrival) and that was after telling us around 4 or 5 pm (by 3 or more different people) that the room was «being cleaned». Now I don’t know about you, but if I start cleaning a room at 5pm, it would be pretty well spotless long before 1am. They should have just been honest and said a room wasn’t available and that they would let us know when one was.
If you want uncaring, incompetent service and want to be left in the dark wondering if your loved one is going to make it or not and enjoy poor communication (or no communication), then this is surely the right place for you to go.
Never again.

went to the er because of the fever and throwing up i asked the doctor to scope my through and he says this hospital does not do that. 2 er visits and 2 doctors visit i am worst and no one wants to help me, they just want to give me breathing treatment that last 20 min. and antibiotics. some doctor needs to step up instead costing lives i am coughing so bad i hope i either get better soon which is unlikely or i get so weak i die

I think this is one of the worst hospitals I have ever gone to. It is an embarrassment. I would give it less stars than one. Kindness is not its virtue.

If I could rate this hospital, they wouldn’t of gotten a 1 star. My friend had a stroke. So I asked about where he was at. They said he was up in the ICU. When I got there, I told them his name. The nurse said I had to talk to the doctor. And I did. He told me. He came in with a stroke and he took a turn for the worse and that he’s not going to look anything like what I knew him to be. They had to do some kind of surgery. Because of the swelling of the brain. I don’t know the technical term. And he’s not going to make it. I wasn’t thinking about it until i got home. Why would you tell somebody that if you’re not family? But anyways I went in to see him, I couldn’t recognize him. Like he said. I cried and prayed over him. I’m not even religious these days. He was a Hispanic male same age same size. His face was so swollen, I don’t think anyone could recognize his face. Turns out it wasn’t my friend. I really wanted to go back to curse them out. He’s recovering in rehab now. I think it’s F’d up. Try to the think about the good things. Like I prayed over someone that didn’t have anyone there. Plus to know that my friend is alive,. Going to get back to himself. I can’t say it was always a bad hospital. 8 years ago my dad had a huge heart attack. He had to go there. They took great care of him. But that was 8 years ago. I don’t know about the doctors that they have now. But with my friend… It was a very upsetting horrible, experience that nobody should have to go thru. But ya know there are always a few bad apples out of the bunch. But in that profession, you shouldn’t make mistakes like that.

Poor poor nursing staff in ER. Patient was returned here from CTRH after fall. Brain trauma patient. Additional brain swelling. Patient restrained at family request as patient was pulling out leads, IV needles and nursing staff was oblivious. All monitoring equip disconnected. No manual vital signs taken approx 5 – 6 hours so far. Complained to supervisor. Was told nurse was spot checking. Either myself or my husband were in the room at all times. There were no vitals taken whatsoever after monitoring equipment was disconnected. If there are vitals on his chart, they were falsified. In addition when we asked for a bed pan we were told where to find them. Really?
Update: vitals WERE falsified. Complaint made to department head. Have no idea if ER supervisor was fired as she did nothing when I made a complaint about her nurse. I would certain hope the attending nurse was fired because she lied to me, my husband and her supervisor regarding vitals for this patient. She insisted she did take vitals manually. Completely false.

I see a few negative reviews for this place. I won’t pretend to have an extensive knowledge of the ER. Truthfully, I will only go to an ER if I’m in a dire situation.
Sadly, such a situation arose when I was down in Austin during the RoT on the 13^th of June. My girlfriend and I were staying at the Sheraton in town and decided to walk around the corner to get a bite to eat. Klutz that I am, I managed to trip and took a pretty nasty fall on the sidewalk. I tried just walking it off, I tried just going back to the room since we aren’t able to get away very often and I didn’t want to screw up our weekend. But, after an hour or two back in the room after the fall it was clear that I was going to need medical attention. Reluctantly, we called for a taxi to take us to the closest medical facility.
Upon arriving, we were greeted by a reasonable nice crew of folks. The room wasn’t super full, but there were still several folks waiting. I’m happy to say that things moved along at a good clip from there. I was taken back within about half an hour. I was treated with kindness and sympathy as you hope to get when you go to seek medical help. They were professional all the way.
The doctor who first saw me told me that I needed some X-​rays to see if there was anything broken from the fall, and that he was worried about something called Compartment Syndrome. My leg had swollen up to about twice is normal size and he said he wanted to keep me there for observation.
I’ll skip sharing the pictures of the swollen bruised up leg, they’re pretty gross.
You’re welcome. ;)
While it really did suck to spend a whole night of our weekend away at the hospital, the staff I encountered at my time here were really nice and helpful and courteous. From the girl who checked me in to the osteopath who looked over my leg, all the way to the nurse on the graveyard shift, everyone treated me very well here.
Since I don’t live in Austin, there isn’t much chance that I will need their services again. But if I found myself in the State Capital and in need of medical attention either for myself or a loved one, I wouldn’t hesitate to revisit Brackenridge.
Cheers! :)

The worst hospital I’ve ever seen. Went in for a cut that was badly infected with staph and cellulitis. Antibiotics were not working. They had to cut it open. The doctor said he needed to do blood work and urinalysis. The nurse took the blood and I gave them a urine sample. In the meantime they moved me to a room for observation. Hours later the blood vials were still setting on the counter in the other room and both the urine and blood were later just thrown out. My veins are bad due to chemotherapy so it was difficult to get the first sample. The doctors did nothing to help me or make sure the infection was under control. When I ask the doctor about my concerns about the infection and now having a huge open wound, she said «well, you don’t want to be in this dirty hospital». Now that was reassuring!!! When I left there no one gave me any directions or follow up advice or how to take care of the open goofball size two inches deep hole in my leg. This place is dangerous! Don’t go. It is very bad for your health!

Arrived at the emergency room at 11am on a Friday. By 2pm we were still in the waiting room. At 2pm we were shuffled with a few other higher needs patients to a second waiting room. Waited there for another hour. Then we waited in a patient room. Finally saw a doctor then waited some more for an EKG and blood test results. Around 4:30pm we were ready to go, but then had to wait for the lab results to be printed and papers to be drawn. When we asked about the paperwork, the nurse was very rude and unhelpful. After 45 minutes of waiting, they called us back to check vitals one last time and low and behold, the test results we asked to have printed had not been printed.
I understand the concept of triage and that the sickest patients get seen first but a 6.5 hour emergency room visit is a little ridiculous considering we only spent about 20 minutes actually receiving care and spent another 45 of that waiting for papers. Ridiculous

Got treated like crap when I went there today to get a chest xray. The young lady was very unprofessional and when I spoke out about the horrible service, she calls security. WTH? Luck I had witness (s) that saw and spoke up that I didn’t not do anything wrong, and that I was very ill and was having a hard time breathing.
What a horrible place. No empathy for humans that are sick at all, treated ya like you were just a number. I will not go back, and have already made appointment at different hospital where I am not insulted.
I did get my xray done, and the one of the security guards was very nice and actually helped me get to the place due to me almost passing out (having hard time breathing). Still amazed this dump is still open…

They steal your stuff from you – lie about the whearabouts of these posessions. And then they try to bill you for ‘their services’. I never realized that stealing personal property was a ‘service’ picked up in medical school and/​or nursing school.

I was taken here by ambulance after I was robbed, punched in the face, resulting in a broken nose one Saturday night. I felt like a piece of dirty laundry. No one was nice to me, comforting, or even very informative. I had blood all over my hands/​face and had to just sit like that until I got sick of it and wiped it off with some wipes I found in the room. I’m thankful that they took care of me but the people that work here are like mean zombie robot pod people.

I was in this hospital twice. The first time I was admitted for a compound fracture to my ankle. Emergency service was excellent. I was taken to the OR within 20 minutes where a plate and screws were inserted.
Because I am a type 1 diabetic, in room care was exceptional. However, responsiveness to my insulin needs was terrible. Food is low quality and unpalatable.
The second time I was admitted for a second surgery. I had this surgery to remove the plate because I contracted a serious bacterial infection called pseudomonas during the operation. This bacteria can only be contracted through contaminated equipment or staff.
Care the second time was horrible. By the time I left the hospital, my blood sugar had risen to nearly 400. Whenever I tried to summon a nurse to my room, it took an unreasonable amount of time for anyone to respond.
The rooms are not cleaned daily. The beds are extremely uncomfortable. Bathing is part of a daily routine.
If given a choice, I would never select this hospital again. My experience was far less than pleasant.

If you get shot, stabbed, are involved in a gnarly car wreck or freak accident (which may or may not involve power tools, heavy machinery, rebar, or bones sticking through your skin) or have severe head trauma, this is the place you want to end up. The only Level 1 trauma center in Austin and for, well, most of central Texas.
Other things, say a fall down the stairs resulting in a non-​protuding bone fracture, you may consider going elsewhere. Again, the abridged version, because I’m still typing one handed:
I was pretty sure my arm was broken, I went into the ER, telling them such. Registration and triage was pretty quick and I was escorted to a room where it was over an hour before I actually saw a doctor. He had xrays taken AFTER seeing me, that was the most excruciating part of the whole experience, the xray techs straightened my arm all the way, when it didn’t want to go that way. No pain meds or anything. In their (and the nurse’s defense, she was a nice enough lady) defense, I have a pretty high pain threshold and I was offered meds several times earlier, which I declined.
After xrays were taken, I guess the doc looked at them, decided I was only severely contused (
), prescribed muscle relaxants and 800mg of Ibuprofen and sent me on my way. Noelle and I had a chance to glance at the xrays on the way out, we both noticed something «off,» but, you know, he did go to doctor school and all.
Even though it took a while to get seen, once that happened, I felt like we were being rushed out of there… with a sling and no «real» pain meds, which I needed a couple days later.
And, yes, my elbow was fractured… only to be discovered/​brought to my attention by my orthopedist, almost 2 weeks later.

Dear Brackenridge Hospital,
Thank you for putting up with my overly drunken, belligerent self the other night (aka my Evil Blackout Twin). I’m not 100% sure if you were able to insert an IV into me because apparently I was struggling pretty violently, but I’m guessing from the blood stains on my jeans that this did not go so well. I realize that you could have left me in my shirt that I so graciously covered in vomit, but you guys removed this for me and put me in a much more comfortable hospital gown. Thank you for gently waking me up using the same tone that you would use to coax a 3 year old to open their eyes– this definitely helped ease the shock of waking up in a hospital bed with no one familiar around. The anti– nausea medicine that you slipped into my mouth was utterly horrible, but I know you were just doing your job. Thank you for explaining the circumstances as to how I arrived in detail and with a humorous edge– I felt stupid enough, and you didn’t try to make me feel any more embarrassed than I already did. Thank you to my female nurse for creating a makeshift pony tail holder from a latex glove so that I could keep my puked-​in hair out of my face, and for providing me with a stylish hospital shirt to wear home. Thank you to my male nurse, who provided me quickly with water and PowerAde, even though apparently I just narrowly missed throwing up on him. As out of hand as the night obviously got, because of you guys, it was not as bad as it could have been (there have been worse, sadly). I hope I never have to see you guys again, but it seems if I must, I’ll be in good hands.
Sincerely,
Me.
P. S. Thank you to the police officer who found me, and realized that getting me medical attention was more pressing than a trip to jail. Seriously, good looking out, and good karma to you for life!

It’s not so bad, as far as emergency rooms go.
Some of the employees here are homophobic. Most aren’t though.
Freeeeeezing cold in this place, of course.
My only complaint is that my wife was given a lidocaine shot while they stitched her up, and then a prescription for pain meds. But they didn’t give her any pain meds while we were actually there… while we were waiting for the person to go over her discharge/​medication instructions, the lidocaine wore off and she was in really bad pain. We went to the hospital pharmacy in hopes of filling the prescription for her quickly and were told that they don’t accept insurance…
So we had to drive to HEB and wait 20 minutes for them to fill her prescription while she was in pain.
Pissed me off.
They also told her someone would come by to clean her up after stitching her lip, but they didn’t. She left with blood all over the side of her face and in her ear from the guy rinsing her lip wound with saline spray before he stitched her up.
When she went back in to get the stitches out, everyone was friendly and it took about 15 minutes total. Awesome!
Be warned… there is NO PARKING LOT outside the emergency room like there is at most hospitals. You’d better plan your emergencies well enough to bring a 3^rd person to help your injured person into the hospital while you go down the street and park in the garage.

I came here, because I got kicked in the ribs by a five year old. I heard a snap, Maybe I just felt a snap.
Three broken ribs. Pain drugs. Sent home.
On my way out, the doctor said, «be sure you tell all your friends that you have broken ribs, so they feel sorry for you and you can feel popular.»

As with any ER or doctor related visit there will be a wait and it is FREEZING. We happened to get there early July 4^th to beat the rush and eight hours later the BF was being rolled in for an appendectomy. Super grateful since I had recently heard having your appendix rupture is the worst way to find out you need surgery and is quite dangerous. The staff kept us informed and was really nice.

Sure it’s rumored to be the hospital-​for-​the-​homeless, or at least the place the droves of uninsured near-​corpses get dumped in, but why not? I was in so much agony for days on end (it climaxed on this particular day) that I was doubled over bawling on my desk, snot and all, and staggered out of my downtown skyscraper to find the first place that could tell me whether or not my knee cap truly was floating in water somewhere around the wrong part of my leg or not.
Strangers on 6^th tried to help lift me as I staggered muttering, «I’m fine, go away, I do it myself!» The bus stop going there was the terrifying one on 6^th and Brazos which I used to live above, hovering above the cigarette-​lit masses in wheelchairs and stained t-​shirts. There I was now. Queuing up to fix whatever was wrong with my leg.
I get to the hospital. It’s filled with people in «Take A Number» t-​shirts talking loudly into cellphones. A series of troubled staff offered help as I staggered, crying, holding walls in an attempt to propel myself to the ER.
The nurse who took my vitals could not have any less contempt for humanity than if she were Alien. That’s right Alien. She had blank eyes and I could feel her gritted teeth beneath her mask. She didn’t ask my pain level or if I wanted meds, she just watched me sob telling me to get it in check as she listed «Pain level 1 – 10: 10» on her monitor for me.
I waited for hours. Several people went ahead of me as I sobbed in a wheelchair with no wheels. A slightly terrifying man in Ray-​Bans gave me his phone number, and in broken English told me, «You call me. You call this,» and then procuring an all too elaborate hand-​written note which read «Call Armando» with his address, phone number, and what I almost thought was a hotel room…
Hours passed. Hours and hours. I needed a bathroom. They called a volunteer. None came. I tried to scoot myself forward with the one good leg. All nearby restrooms were out of order so I had to travel down the hall and around the corner for quite some way. I begged for pain medicine. I was informed «Not until you see the doctor.» I sobbed my way from 1 to 6 p.m. with no sign of a doctor. At around 2 – 3 I asked the concierge, well whatever you call it here, «I told my boss I’d come right back to work once I got the pain to stop, it’s been a while, can you tell me if I’ll make it back in time or not?» I was told that he couldn’t see times only names and only a few were ahead of me. Dear God, if 4 to 5 hours are «just a few ahead» then this man needs to rethink his wording on the wait time.
The man who took me back was jovial, hilarious, and called me «Frauline» due to my German last name, and we’re talking THICKLY German, so it cracked me up. I forgot about the excruciating pain for a moment thanks to him. I was left alone in a tiny room for literally an hour before a young doctor came in with the distance only miles or kilometers could describe in interaction… he asked me to remove my tights and offered to leave. I, still covered in tears and sticky mascara, told him «Fuck it, you’re a doctor…» and tried to stagger to my feet to remove them in front of him.
I told him my foot was the original source but he ordered all X-​rays and ultrasounds on the knee and upper leg. This concerned (and still concerns me as the foot is now double the size) and I spent several hours in a series of waiting and staring at walls alone after being instructed by very distracted nurses, «Hey could you tell them to wheel you straight to this room after? I’m going to go around the corner,» then disappearing.
During my x-​ray I was told to twist my knee a certain way which caused me the kind of pain they describe Jesus-​enduring-​the-​cross-​with, and trust me, I’m no pain-​wuss. I don’t even take headache medicine… this was PAIN. Then informed me that they had jacked up the x-​ray and «God I’m such an idiot can you twist the knee again? I swear man, where is my head today?!» Such elaborate yogic poses continued and long waits in the motionless wheelchair left alone against walls as well. In the final exam room, waiting for my doctor to review charts, I went so crazy from the claustrophobia of being trapped in the tiny, deteriorated room that I even tried walking again (big mistake).
All in all, I’d say I knew better. People call Brackenridge the «ghetto hospital» for a reason and I was treated as something less than a tick on the ass of this institution. I’m on crutches and sort of recovering but the whole experience contrasted to that you’d get at other hospitals confirmed my suspicions.