Rush University Medical Center Emergency Room

I originally made an appointment to be seen by Megan McIntyre, NP at Rush clinic for a dog bite and sprained ankle on Monday, November 2^nd at 2:40pm, but after spending 10 minutes with her, she sent me to the ER instead. Megan was professional, timely, and friendly. I also had the friendliest volunteer wheel me down to the ER from the clinic as it was too painful to walk. Once checked in at the ER I waited maybe 30 minutes total in the waiting room before I was assigned to room 8. My doctor that day was Dr. Ward who actually came to the waiting room and helped me walk back to room 8 (very unexpected and thoughtful!). Dr. Ward informed me I would have a little bit of a wait and even apologized. Once Dr. Ward was in my room he was beyond professional, friendly, relatable and comforting. I was in the ER from about 3pm to 7:30pm that day but I expected to spend some time in the ER and didn’t mind because of the professional and friendly care from all staff working that day/​night. While a trip to the ER sucks no matter what, the excellent care I received from Rush clinic and Rush ER helped counteract a bad situation by providing a good experience. Thank you Megan McIntyre, Dr. Ward and the all staff working that afternoon/​early evening!

Just to get into the ER it took us 5 hours! Inside the doors the staff was very nice but super slow, all in all we spent more than 9 hours to just get an ultrasound. If they could figure out how to shave an extra 7 hours off the visit this would be a good place.

First time here. I came in with a potential fracture in my elbow. I was told by a couple people to just go have it checked out because if it is cracked they’ll need to set it sooner rather than later. All told I’ve (so far) been sitting here for 4 hours. In that time frame I’ve seen the RN who initially checked me out. Then I saw the xray guy but I’ve yet to see the actual doctor. I totally get that my issue is minor in comparison to others that are here but I can’t lie and say I’m not getting antsy and agitated. Plus it’s almost 1 in the morning, I’m ready to go to sleep and just try again tomorrow. I will say the staff has been lovely and the process moved quickly at first but now I feel like the least of their concern. Wah wah…

I came here today due to headaches and elevated high blood pressure. I’ve been sitting in the waiting area for over 2 hours. This is the worst service for an ER I have ever seen. If i was having a stroke or a heart attack I probably be dead already. This was closest to work. I should’ve went to my regular doctor.

I had a Pretty decent experience in the ER here. I was waiting for a room to open up in the hospital, and the wait was terribly unpleasant, but that was more about my situation than the care. My call button was either broken or the nurse just didn’t care because I was hitting that thing and waiting as patiently as a woman in excruciating pain can wait before having the boyfriend hit it again. Overall they took good care of me.

If I can give this place a half star I would. I came in at 4am and they are saying no one will see me until 8 am. I am in terrible pain and this guy at the desk is very rude. I will try my best to never come here again. It’s sad, some people look as if they will die any minute and no one here cares. I don’t ever write reviews on Unilocal but I’m so frustrated with this place that I feel they deserve every negative review it received.

This is the worst ER ever. You wait for hours to be seen by a doctor. From the way they treat you, it looks like they care more about how fast they check you in. You go in the first time with the nurse in minutes, then she sends you back to the waiting room and there you wait for hours. The first time i brought my wife, we spent 5.5 hrs in the ER and 3 hrs of that was in the waiting room.

At my mothers age she is a regular here and as a result so am I. Every two to three years something goes wrong and its time for a visit to the emergency room. They eventually patch her up and she is OK. This time we got to see the shiny new emergency room at Rush. No complaints. They wheeled her right in because of her age. (Thank God because this was at the height of flu season and the emergency waiting room was filled with people waiting to be seen.) They examined, did all the tests and diagnosed her within a couple of hours. The only complication was that the hospital was full and she had to wait 12 hours for a bed. Most people would be upset with that and shell out the one star reviews but that is out of the control of the hospital. Very satisfied with the emergency room and the hospital stay.

I brought my Mother-​in-​law on a Wednesday night because she was short of breath. I was surprised that we were seen right away & bypassed the usual hourly wait. The ER nurses were ok. One had an attitude & she was extremely demanding when taking the vital signs. I gave her a killer look & she looked pregnant but still that is no way to treat a patient in distress. The ER doc was friendly & overall my mom in law was satisfied with her ok.

I received the best care at the ER on Saturday. I came in with a pretty serious laceration on my arm. I received 40 stitches by a trauma surgeon who shares her time with Cook County Hospital, it was very obvious she is dedicated to caring for her patients. She was calm and confident, kind, she made me feel at ease. She didnt waste any time and before I knew it I was being ‘polked’. She took her time, even though the work kept her two and a half hours after she was supposed to leave. On top of it all my stitches look amazing, all of the doctors I’ve seen afterwards have commented on their quality. I am so grateful for her, it makes me feel better about our healthcare system, that there are ER doctors out there who truly care about the patients they see. Thanks Doc.

I was there Sunday morning @7 am they were quick and courteous and so very helpful. The staff from the security, to intake both regular and insurance, triage, nurses and doctors were both friendly and professional to no avail. I will go back if needed and want to commend them on all they did for me.

Positives: Parking ticket validation, beautiful new lobby, privacy glass in emergency treatment bays.
Negatives: This comment is based on a 9.5 hour visit for an unidentified infection that was ultimately treated as MRSA and yet none of the common precautions for this condition were taken. Doctors (three were involved) demonstrated poor communication skills. During the day-​long wait, each attempt to find a doctor or nurse to inquire about test results or pain management was met with either avoidance, indifference, or irritation. The computer keyboards and screens seem to almost swallow the staff. Family members were able to walk in and out of the emergency treatment area without being greeted, stopped, questioned, or asked to wear any kind of visitor ID. Narcotics were freely given but without any accompanying food or fluids to a patient with narcotics sensitivity. The code to the storage cabinet in the treatment area was spoken out loud by the patient care tech. The sick patient was not allowed to have a pillow or a blanket during the 9-​hour visit. «Only sheets in Emergency.» Poor signage throughout the main areas of the hospital made the visit unnecessarily confusing. Caffeteria was not open during standard daytime hours. I witnessed no energy, no earnestness, no warmth, no caring really. The patient was left for literally hours at a time. The patient became worse, went to Northwestern, treatment was complete in an hour and the Rush diagnosis was disputed.
This encounter would fail during a Joint Commission audit. The emergency department is in need of quality review. It may be a new and modern building but, in the end, people make the difference. These people just seem worn out.

Is this what our healthcare system has regressed too? In terms of Emergency Care needs, AVOID this places, even if you have the Cadillac of insurance plans. Went on on Friday at 5:15 due to a laceration that cut 75% of my finger. It look over 3 hours just to get someone to finally look at it and stitches it up. At it wasn’t even a doctor, it was a RN who stitched it up. Why have you go into a room to just sit and wait and wait and wait. When they put me a in a room, the nurse could have just stitched me up in 30 minutes, got me on my way and gave the room to someone more needing assistance. They have a nice new building, but you can put lipstick on a pig, and it’s still a pig. I’d go to another emergency room if you need urgent care

!!!DO NOT GO HERE IF IT’S AN EMERGENCY!!!
I went in complaining of chest pains, numbness and shortness of breath and waited 3.5 hours before finally leaving without being seen. People were passing out in the waiting room, even saw a lady slide out of her wheel chair unconscious, thankfully the other people waiting helped her because the doctors and nurses didn’t do a thing!
The last time I was here was with my daughter for a broken arm and it took 2.5 hours before being looked at.
This place is could literally kill you if you go there with a life threatening problem. Don’t risk it!

For years, Rush University Medical Center has received praise and adoration for their amazing work and there is no doubt that the men and women who work in this facility have made wonderful strides in the medical field. However, it appears as though the facility missed something while in the process of achieving such high regard.
The left behind the emergency room. The ER at Rush is incredibly tiny for one thing, which is quite shocking considering the massive size of the entire facility. I know that emergency rooms are not created to capture the awe of patients, so I will leave out the ridiculous physical problems with the facility for the remainder of my rant.
I arrived at this ER a few weeks ago because I was experiencing incredibly painful chest pressure and shooting pains. I arrived with my husband, who explained my situation to the women sitting on the main desk and the glared at me while tears were streaming down my face. Well hello to you too, ladies. After slapping on a routine hospital bracelet, I was asked to have a seat. First of all, anyone who knows anything about medicine and the medical field knows that chest pain is, usually, serious business and therefore, people with chest pain are usually seen immediately. However, I proceeded to take my seat in the overflowing waiting room amongst all the other crying and unhappy people. While keeled over in my seat, I counted the minutes that passed along with my husband. After about two hours, I was able to go to triage. They finally asked me some regular questions and I thought that maybe, just maybe, since my heart felt like it was about to leap out of my chest or implode inside of it, I was going to be able to have a visit with a doctor. Nope. I was sent back to the waiting area. For five hours. Five. With chest pain.
When, after a total of seven hours, I was able to see a doctor, a nurse came in to take my blood pressure. She asked me what my symptoms were and in the process of responding, she yelled out (while staring at the TV) «my favorite show!!!», completely ignoring the fact that she wasn’t at home and she was at work and it was time to do her job. After being ignored, she proceeded to diagnose me which was fascinating, because she had not done any testing and was not a doctor. Finally, she left and the doctor came in who was rather pleasant. However, she said that my EKG was fine, so she didn’t «know what else to do for me». I’m no medical professional, but I know that an EKG isn’t the only test available for chest pain.
The rest of the night went on the same way, making me actually start crying out of fatigue, frustration, anger and the overall feeling that my pain meant nothing to these people. The only cordial, friendly person was the young girl who took my chest x-​rays for me. I wish I had gotten her name so I could have told someone about the one person that made me feel like my pain mattered.
It all boils down to this– I will never again spend any time at that facility and I will never let any of my loved ones go to the ER there. Wait times for emergencies are beyond ridiculous and in all honesty, we were told by the ladies at the front desk that «oh, five hours is a short waiting time for us»! The ER at Rush ruins the prestigious nature of the medical center for me and I truly hope that the people in charge there take a good look at the chaos they have created.

This is atrocious. In 20 minutes I will have been sitting in the ER for 7 hours. They tried to give me a $ 5 gift card to apologize, explaining how its a unusually busy night, the whole place is full. Well, I was here 6 months ago and it was exactly the same so apparently this is usual.

This was the worst experience, this er is like being in a different country. I arrived at 130 pm and did not see a doctor until 8:30 pm. I was told I might have internal bleeding which was the most awful thing to hear after sitting in a waiting area 7 hours. I was blessed that the MRI was negative but the doctor was way over his head with only 2 physicians in the er and several unimpressive nurses. I did not leave the facility until 11:00 pm. Had my doctor not been in this facility I never would have stayed there and I never will go back. Stay away if your hurt and go to an er that doesn’t risk your life waiting to see a doctor while you wait.

Visited on Sunday — Took amazing care of me quickly!
Beats Northwestern ER Anyday!

A five star rating for an emergency room?
Well, YES!
I am in the midst of switching doctors– and my medical condition that they are treating is not an easy one! This made the decision to head to Rush– my «new» place a hard one, I was a bit nervous. After all– my old hospital knows me (and I love them– except for my one doctor– that I need!)…
RUSH? No Need to be worried or nervous on my part.
They were fantastic. I was put in a private room in the ER– immediately after triage– I did not have to wait.
I saw a variety of specialists and ER docs all night. They left the choice of being admitted up to me (NO– NO THANK YOU!!). They focused on getting the pain under control– and despite the fact that it took 4 tries with meds– (It was really, really, really bad) — they got it.
I felt incredibly cared for and well looked after. Lights out in my room, noises limited, NO problem. When a new doc would come in and want to take a look– they even left the lights off for my comfort! I had my normal work up, and they even took a pass on the LP (spinal tap!) figuring that I would most likely have one within the next couple of weeks (yes, lucky me.)
The Nurses and docs were also great with my friends. I had one friend who came over after a phone conversation– I did not sound too hot. While I was trying to avoid a trip into the hospital– she happily sat around and kept saying– YOU NEED to GO! When I finally agreed (feeling like my head was going to split open and having taken tons of pain meds and had nothing work), we called my guys to drive us. I thought only T would come– but his partner (my other guy) was worried and came too. So, I ended up with an entourage. The nurses and docs were great with them– friendly– allowing them in, kicking them out to talk to me (not like there are any secrets– but just in case). A couple even snickered at the jokes from my guys. «Uh Oh. Did you find out you have a brain tumor?» «Oh wait… I mean, you have extra brains. Right?» Morbid humor– but– hey– we always laugh about it!
All in all– it was the best possible experience I could hope for. I wish I could say that I will not be back, but until I get a new head– I cannot! I know I am in good hands here!