Hackensack University Medical Center

This is by far the worst hospital experience I have ever had. I went into the emergency room with a broken collar bone and ripped ligament in my right shoulder. You would think that I would be admitted sooner than 2 hours. Nope. I already had my X-​rays taken at an urgent care center, but they insisted that they are not acceptable because they were not taken there. The urgent care place told me to go to the hospital and show them these X-​rays and tell them that I need an MRI for my torn ligament. The hospital said first it needs to take X-​rays in house because that’s the first step in order to get an MRI. I said sure lets get this done, not to mention the entire time being in severe pain and not being offered anything for it. I took the X-​rays and the tech said it will be about 5 minutes for her to review it and get back to me. Little did I know, she went on her break and about 1 hour and 35 minutes later, another doctor comes in and says, so your going to need and MRI because you can’t see the ligaments from an X-​ray. I said, wow really? I have these here X-​rays from the urgent care center and for him to check it out. «They look exactly like ours» he said. No Shit, I told you I was sent here for an MRI. I was told I then need to see an orthopedic doctor for a referral first, and then come back to the hospital for the MRI! What is the point of this places emergency room? I spent 6 hours in excruciating pain, for them to tell me what I already knew, for them to run tests on me that I already had so that they can bill my insurance $ 4,800, for them to send me away and say I need to come back to the same place at a later time. This place is not a hospital, it is a money stealing scam and I would never, ever, recommend it to anyone else.

ER is horrible !!! No sense of urgency. The nurses are calling all the specialized docs in the hospital to see who wants to help. All the departments transfer the nurse’s call because no wants to get involved with the patients here. This ER is horrible if you are a cancer patient, I would not recommend this place. The ER expanded area looks like a war zone or a scene from the walking dead. I’m waiting for zombies to come and eat me while I wait here for a doctor to show up.
I wished zombies would come and eat the pain away from the patients that are moaning here! It horrible !!!

We came to the hospital to see a specialize Doctor of the Ear, Nose and Throat. The office staff were all professional and courteous. They even give you a complimentary parking ticket if you are there to see the doctor. The doctor were helpful and advisable.

We went to see a specialist today. It’s a big hospital everyone try there best to help us. Very very friendly staff

I was recently in the ER and the nurses and doctors were wonderful. I was seen and treated almost immediately. Highly recommended.

They have a decent building. I wish they spent more money on obtaining high quality doctors and training its staff. Bergen County is close enough to NYC, and anyone, who does not have a strong reason to be close to a hospital, should just cross GWB and visit a NYC hospital with quality doctors. If one is in need for a local hospital, I’d give first consideration to Holy Name or Englewood hospitals. Our experience stems from a visit to its pediatric ER. The doctor (Dr. Daniel Finch) over diagnosed our 7 year old son and wouldn’t allow our family to leave the hospital unless we committed our son to a full or partial hospitalization. We learned from two other appointments with better qualified (child specialists with better educational, resident training) doctors outside of this hospital that such a recommendation was reserved for extreme cases and certainly didn’t fit our son’s case. The reason for over diagnosis is usually one of the two — inexperience or fear of liability. My experience spoke volumes about the quality of its doctor (s).

i see the doctor at this hospital. the doctors and nurses really care about their patients. no wonder why this hospital is rank number 1 hospital in new jersey. overall love this hospital. they treat every patients with respect.

This is the best hospital in the New York City area. I know because I trained her as medical doctor. I also work as a physician here. If every hospital was like this hospital everything would be great. By the way the food in this cafeteria is better than most restaurants. Try the fried chicken. One of the few cafeterias that’s open for the staff late at night that serves decent food

This place is absolutley terrible. I have a serious infection, and a very high fever. Ive been here for 7 hours and still have not been treated. Its empty in the er and still NOTHING. I pressed the nurse button and did not get a response for over 4 hours. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible. I would rather treat myself.

The Women’s and Children’s hospital are awesome. Took away one star because I felt that during my discharge, the ball was dropped on my pain medications. Luckily, I did not need them. Thank you for the great nurses there.

This is the place to be when it is serious and you need the best care. Teaching hospitals have great, great doctors you see once or twice a day and lots of good student doctors you see constantly. The nurses and other hospital staff are friendly and professional.
Pediatric ER and care rooms are excellent.
For bread and butter issues adult issues, I think Holy Name or Englewood are more than adequate, but for the scary stuff, as a parent, I trust the people here.

So far I have been waiting in the ER for over 2 hrs as a referral from a different doctor who deemed my leg infection as LIFE THREATENING in need of admission… only thing I got done during this time frame is vitals. I decided to leave and go to Holy Name instead… all desk person said was «sorry» didn’t even try to talk me into staying. This place is over-​rated! Got seen by doctor in 10mins at Holy Name… awesome

had the worst experience ever. got in and was shuffled around for over 3 hours without seeing a doctor or getting xrayed for my cracked ribs
Ended up leaving and going to City MD OMG they are what medical care should be. in and out within an hour with xays I will never go back to Hackensack

It saddens me to have to write such a poor review concerning a local hospital but the way this issue has been handled leaves much to be desired.
I brought my 85 y/​o mother into the hospital in January on what happened to be an unusually busy night in the ER. She was shuffled around from space to space, forgotten in a hallway, moved to an ER room and back to a hallway again. She was never given a place for her personal belongings and as a result slept with her eye glasses on and hearing aides in. I returned the following morning as they were finally moving her to a room (turned out to be another hallway space) when she told me they made her get out of bed to change the sheets. She didn’t realize at the time her hearing aides had fallen out during the night. Had she been given someplace to put her things this would not have happened. When they changed the sheets, out went the hearing aides. It was reported within the hour but no luck in finding them.
We received a letter from Joey Mendez stating since she was brought in by ambulance alert and oriented it was not their responsibility. Problem is she was brought in by myself not ambulance so how much faith can you have in the records.
I was told I would be contacted by Elizabeth A. Skene, Patient Experience manager. That never happened in the 3 months since the incident happened. What a terrible manager to not have the courtesy of returning even one of my numerous phone calls.
I will give credit to Cindi Greco for listening and her professionalism but she was unable to get this resolved.
I am sure the hospital has insurance to cover such items, The hearing aides were less than a year old and cost over $ 3000. I also provided proof of the hearing aid purchase. It would have been nice had they even made some sort of partial reimbursement.
Living in Bergen County we have choices for hospitals and if there is a next time it will probably not be Hackensack.

I waited in the emergency room for over three hours. That is not an exaggeration. The nurses are apathetic and inattentive. They know absolutely nothing about HIPAA. That is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that was passed by Congress in 1996. When I requested a HIPAA consent form they had no idea what I was speaking about. Every hospital in America is supposed to be in compliance with HIPAA and have the appropriate consent forms available. One of the nurses became very snippy because I advocated for myself. There was no need for his dramatics.

This hospital is progressively getting worse and worse as the years have gone by. The wait times are horrendous, the employees are extremely rude and will run you over to get into the elevator and most recently the cafeteria food made me sick. When I look around the cafeteria food offered to patients, not only are they unhealthy options but the quality of food and meat is worse than fast food.
What struck me to write this review was the experience I had with the front desk lady who checks in patients and disperses visitor passes at the main entrance of the hospital. The women’s name is Marilyn that works there and gives out guest passes, well this lady was so extremely rude and would not answer me when I asked if I was in the right place. She ignored me when I asked for a pass, went to another side of the counter and said next to help someone else in line. Well I was stunned that I came to her and said excuse me is this where I get a guest pass, at that time a line of 3 people lined up after me and I had to go back into the line to have another lady help me.
Maybe it’s because it was 10:30 am and she was tired or maybe it’s that she is extremely rude and crazy and doesn’t want to work there anymore. Either way she is the worst person to have to greet and assist patients. I would def make her wash dishes or work in the flower shop rather than be the face of HUMC. I would recommend another hospital!

I never thought I would find a hospital that functioned as fluidly as California Pacific Medical Center. but Hackensack is outstanding in terms of responsiveness and compassionate care. I had a few major procedures done and stayed 3 nights. Nurses on my floor were pleasant, polite, upbeat and thorough. When I rang the call button they were there in a matter of seconds. Food was surprisingly good. Chicken parm was every bit as good as an Italian restaurant.
The black eyes:
Charges $ 5 a day for TV
Limited hours for ordering food
Pain management strategy is they tell the patient to ASK for pain meds. They will not just give them to you according to a schedule. That sucked because I had to keep of everything which I don’t feel a patient should do.
Andres, Natalia, Olevia, Kerry and Delys you nurses made it a great experience for me. Blessings to all of you.

I was here because a friend of mine got into a football accident and had to go into the emergency room. Everything seemed fine, fast and smooth at first.
He was checked out by a doctor in a decent amount of wait time. Then got his CAT scan right away, all within 2.5 hours. When we were all praising for the speed and efficiency of this hospital… comes the down hill.
Doctor insisted my friend to get an MRI scan, just as a precaution for any unseen damages to his neck. He said he will try to get him into MRI as soon as possible.
When my friend got into the MRI (30min wait for opening for MRI) he came out saying… after his scan, he was placed in a room all alone and no one knew he was in there. After about like an hour+ wait, my friend finally got pushed out.
3 hours later, we were still waiting on the «results» from the MRI experts… it does not take that long!
The only reason that this hospital got their stars from me is because of the doctor that cared for my friend. He really tried to speed everything up and was very understanding. His name is Doctor Herman, and he was one of the most attentive emergency room doctor I’ve ever seen.

This review is for Hackensack Pediatric Dermatology Department:
The appointment reservation process is very old school.
YOu have to keep calling them and hope that you dont reach their voicemail.
I wont mind that as long as they would return their call.
I hope there was a better way to take appointments.
I havent yet visited the clinic so cant comment much on the helpfulness of staff and doctors.
Update:
My experience at clinic was pleasant.
I dont have any complains with staff or doctor.

Just came back from my second surgery at HUMC and aside from the excruciating pain that’s to be expected during the healing process, my experience was pleasant as usual. The staff is so incredibly friendly and accommodating. The nurses are especially excellent care givers. If there’s one person assigned to assist you, don’t be surprised when 8 other nurses come to fluff your pillow or ask how you’re feeling. They truly go above and beyond. There’s a reason that they’re the first hospital in the country to receive the Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence!
I also found out that this is Bergen County’s first hospital ever, and it started out with only 12 beds! Well, now the hospital is just massive! The facility is beautiful and meticulously maintained for neatness and cleanliness.
I deduct one star only because the parking is almost always insane. That garage is like walking through Wonderland. Finding your car can be incredibly difficult if you’re not familiar with the arrangement. Security is pretty helpful though. What’s really nice is that they give you a voucher for free parking if you’re having a procedure done at the hospital or even if you’re simply the person who’s picking up the patient. Saves you $ 8 every time.
My family and I go to HUMC for pretty much everything. My sister was even born here. I really love this place and the people employed here.