VCU Medical Center MCV Campus

The Good the Bad and the Ugly
The Good: specialists are on site, close by, a few of the best doctors, the best equipment, at times a 5 star hospital
The Bad: They are limited by diagnostic protocols, as to which test you can have in order to diagnose an injury
The Ugly: After I was in a car accident I had to fight for 2 hours to get an x-​ray. Afterwards, they didn’t see L1 had been crushed. I was told all was fine and was sent home, but in great pain. As it turned out I was 1 mm from losing my core, whatever that is.
On another occasion 1 month after surgery I began to hemorrhage. Rescue returned me to VCU to the ER, lying on a table for 40 min. Specialist MD shows up, he apologized, then stopped the bleed, no problem I was at peace with dying.
Would only go to VCU if it was the last resort and could not handle the ride to UVA Medical Center in Charlotesville, 40 to 50 minutes via Rescue from Henrico’s West-​End.
Don’t expect pain MEDs, from VCU/​MCV cause student doctors have to cover their asses, granted its an urban hospital, you know. Also, read your own x-​rays cause they may fall asleep or something. I don’t know what’s up with that. 3 stars because they are easily capable of 5 stars if they decide you are a 5 stare patient. My wife had to wash the blood off my face before leaving the hospital. I was not an indigent as they call it, Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield.

As a visitor, the most important thing to remember is that there are several different buildings which all connect so make sure you know what building you need to be in. However, if you get lost (which I did several times), there are several information desks and the nurses/​staff are trained to spot lost visitors and will walk you to the correct building/​elevator.
The hospital is located in the heart of downtown Richmond and there are several parking decks with ample parking spaces available for a $ 2 charge. If the visitor lot is full, the hospital will reimburse you for a portion of your valet cost.
All of the staff we have encountered have been extremely friendly and knowledgeable. If you are heading to MCV for a procedure, keep in mind that there may be students shadowing the doctors — MCV is one of the top medical colleges and I met several students in the hallways, during procedures and in the cafeteria. The hospital plays a lullaby throughout the hospital speakers each time a baby is born… it’s a nice little touch to brighten the days of patients.
There are also several options for dining — Subway, Chicfila, Einstein Bagels, Au Bön Pain and Wendy’s are all easily accessible in addition to the hospitals cafeteria.
While I hope there is not a need to visit MCV again in the near future, if there is ever a need to be in a hospital, I’d highly recommend MCV.

I have only been to MCV (thank goodness) twice. The first time was YEARS ago to pick up my niece who was taken there as a precaution after falling while at camp. Uneventful. This time, I went to visit friends who were having surgery — one donating a kidney, the other receiving it.
MCV is right downtown, so it’s a congested area. The parking garage is tight, but not necessarily full. The hospital consists of a bunch of different buildings not so obviously connected by walkways, so you don’t always realize you’re walking into a different building. That makes for confusing directions even with signage. If you’re there everyday working, I’m sure you figure it out. This plus the fact that I was given incorrect information by a front desk person who told me my friends were not and wouldn’t be on her floor or in her building even because that’s not where they do that kind of surgery (after being told by another front desk person on another floor that they were) takes them down a star. My friends were there.
The food options seemed to be okay. There was a Chick-​Fil-​A, an Au Bön Pain, and a cafeteria that offered a variety of items at a good price. I got a salad, soup and bottled water for $ 7.
Regarding healthcare services, the surgeries were uncomplicated, and everything’s going as planned. Both of my friends are scheduled to be released as predicted without any kind of anticipated complications, so I’d say that deserves a good star rating! Thanks, MCV for taking great care of my girls!

All I’ve had are good experiences here. My wife had her prenatal visits here and all the staff were very professional. My daughter was born premature and stayed at the NICU for 5 weeks and I couldn’t have experienced anything better. I especially couldn’t have more respect for the nurses at the NICU because of the hard and excellent work they do taking care of very sick babies. We’ve been to the pediatric ER a couple times and we couldn’t have had better experiences. There was practically no wait time, since we called it in and when we were seen the nurses and doctors made us feel comforting.

MCV is definitely a bit of a catch-​22. If you have a life threatening illness or condition, it’s definitely the only place to be in central VA. But Bill C. below is spot on. If you show up at the emergency room with a non-​life threatening condition, the experience is absolutely horrible with wait times that are obscene. On my most recent trip to the MCV emergency room, I had to wait approximately 7 ½ hours before I was called into an exam room. The local wisdom in Richmond has always been to go to MCV if you’re dying and somewhere else if you’re not and that is very good advice indeed.

I currently volunteer here at North Hospital in the Palliative Care Unit. For the second year in a row, VCU Medical Center has been ranked as the best hospital. They certainly seem to keep on growing with lots of construction going on around the medical campus. This place has many opportunities for those who plan to go to medical school, nursing school, etc. Granted it is a teaching institution. There’s certainly lots to do here and is a great place to build on connections.

Our entire experience with the MCV/​VCU complex was great. Friendly staff. Reasonable wait times. I was cared for professionally, and in every step of the way everything being done was explained and any questions I had were answered promptly.
I was there for a procedure. MCV is in the middle of downtown Richmond, with a sprawling, and spread out complex of buildings. Generally speaking, in Richmond, parking is a dice throw.
When we were scheduled for this procedure, the mechanisms of MCV took over. We were put up in the Hospital Hospitality House, which was only a few blocks from where I was admitted to. The MCV/​VCU/​HHH utilize a system of courtesy vans which will take you to and from any part of the complex.
Which is a tremendous stress relief on patients and families (look at this, this way. You have to drive to RVA to go to the MCV/​VCU complex to get to a 6:45 arrival time. You leave your house at O dark thirty, and upon arrival, have to hunt around for a parking place, near where you have to go. Every bit of this was taken out of the equation with our visit here. HHH overnight, and shuttles that took me anywhere I needed to go).
We arrived at the HHH, checked in, parked our car in the main hospital parking garage. We were then shuttled back to the HHH, and then in the morning of my procedure, shuttled, again, to the car, where we dropped off our luggage, and then to the hospital.
After the procedure, I was wheeled to the elevator that took us right to our parked car.
Well played MCV/​VCU/​HHH. Very well played.
My thanks to the nurses in the Transitional Unit, who looked after me, Travis in the X-​Ray department, and the doctors there. And to the transportation folks, who took me from A to B to C, without a complaint.
Recommended
@Removeyourhat

Waited 6 hours in the emergency waiting to see a doc for my son. Finally have up like many did. Others around us were into their 8^th hour of waiting for same.
With this absurdly long emergency department wait we decided to tough it out, get some sleep and try to see a really live doctor in the morning. Others were waiting for 8 hours ahead of us. I mean really, is there any confidence that we would have seen a competent and alert doctor to test my son for anemia and provide the proper prescription for his condition? Zip, zee, zilch on the confidence scale.
As we waited, it was not as if we saw much more action that people being called into the triage rooms. We couldn’t have seen more than 10 people move through the system in the 6 hours we where there.
The guy that was sitting next to us waited for 8 hours with a sliced open hand from a kitchen accident that required 32 stitches. Imagine holding your hand up above your heart for 8 hours waiting in an emergency room.
It is literally faster to drive north 2 hours to INOVA in Fairfax VA where you can find competent healthcare professionals than to wait at this «hospital». We could have saved 2 hours by doing this **assuming** that VCU Medical would have seen my son had we waited another 2 hours (who the blankity blank knows?)
To cap it off, we tried to be courteous and let the receptionist know we were leaving and our position would be open in the line up. She was slightly snotty /​indignant and asked if we no longer needed the care with an attitude that was clearly saying «then why did you waste our valuable time here in the first place?» In response let her know that after waiting for 6 hours there was no reasonable amount of confidence that we would see a doctor anytime soon and if we did, the doctor’s ability to provide care was highly doubtful at this point. Mind you, no «thank you» no «I’m very sorry for the wait», no «should I have a doctor follow up with you just in case»., no nothing.
At least they provided nice comfortable cozy waiting room couches for the local street people (reeking of urine) to use as beds. What a treat that was (yes, that’s when we decided to not wait another 2 hours for healthcare crap shoot at VCU Medical)
What a horrible joke. There should be a «not on your friggin life» negative star in Unilocal for places like this.