Best Nashville area hospitals? (Murfreesboro, Columbia: employment, centers, moving)

[Semi Tactical]

Centennial is an excellent hospital.

[Steve_TN]

Originally Posted by Shino306

Vanderbilt is a not for profit hospital, as a research hospital and thus with an ER, VUMC is required to take anyone that walks in the door. Plus it's the only level 1 Trauma center for both adults and pediatrics in Middle TN, so if anything major happens, you'll automatically be taken to VUMC regardless of what you can afford. So yes just walking the halls one will probably see less than the cream of the crop of TN in the hallways, however that's more a function of the purpose of the medical center. If you look up the actual rankings for hospitals, Vanderbilt has 9 adult specialty services that are ranked in the Top 20 and 6 specialty services ranked in the Top 25 for children. Overall Vanderbilt is ranked as the 16th best hospital in the country with 15 being Stanford and two (NYU and Yale) tied for number 17.

Baptist does not have an ER and is a FOR Profit hospital, so one HAS to be able to afford to go there. So, yes they're going to have some nicer facilities than Vanderbilt based on their operating mission and some people are going to be attracted to that. In fact my husband still raves about how nice the doctor lounges/cafeteria is at Baptist when he rotated there as a med student at Vanderbilt. They serve lobster and filet mignon in the doctor's cafeteria every day..aren't you glad that's how your healthcare dollars are being spent??
However, Baptist is not ranked in any particular specialty, don't even have a dedicated children's hospital, nor is Baptist ranked as an overall hospital in general.

So to say Vanderbilt is not the best in the region or close to it based on where people "who can afford to go" choose to go isModerator cut: cut totally off-base.

Where did you ever hear that Baptist has no ER??????

[Shino306]

From Baptist's website:
Emergency Services

Saint Thomas Emergency Medical Services (STEMS) was created to serve our network of hospitals in Middle Tennessee. We assist with the timely movement of patients to and from our locations and assist in time of emergency in the communities we serve. We also provide onsite medical care for LP Field, Belmont University, David Lipscomb University and many other venues and events around the region. Our mission parallels that of Saint Thomas Health Services.
What’s New
On February 25, 2008, STEMS began offering emergency medical transportation services in the Middle Tennessee area. We take pride in offering quality customer service and medical care to all who are entrusted to our care. During our normal business hours, we will be concentrating on inter-facility transfers and patient discharges. This new service will also provide quality medical coverage in the evenings and on weekends at sporting events (such as Titans NFL football and local high school football games), concerts, graduations, and more. For more information about our transportation services or event coverage, please contact Saint Thomas Emergency Medical Services (STEMS) at 615.222.5602.

Ok, so Baptist may have an "emergency room" but it's not the same caliber as Vanderbilt's. Vanderbilt is the ONLY Level 1 Trauma Center, for both adults and pediatrics in Middle TN and sees over 100,000 patients annually, not including their Lifeflights patients.

As an fyi, my comment was more driven at someone making assumptions that the "best care" is provided by a FOR PROFIT hospital vs. one that's mission is not to make money. Making that assumptions also excludes Harvard, John Hopkins, Penn, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Stanford, Yale....the list goes on and on, from providing excellent care because their mission is to care for anyone, who comes through the door vs. only those that have insurance and/or can pay for their care. One only needs to look at national hospital rankings to see, which places are continually ranked as Top Hospitals to know that assumption is wholly untrue.

I'm getting off my soapbox now.

[bitten]

Hey all

I was wondering if you all could possibly give me your thoughts on area hospitals/medical groups etc. and where you would want to go as a patient or even work at.

Ideally, I'd love to get on with Vanderbilt's new nurse residency program when I graduate but I'd like to get insight from locals on Baptist and Centennial (or any other medical centers in the area)... pros/cons, experiences, environment, general staff attitudes (I can see a vast difference where I currently do clinicals in FL between the healthcare groups & how their staff works together & treats patients) etc. would very much be appreciated


Thank you!

[BirdieBelle]

I can only give you a patient's perspective, but you did include that in your question. So here's my 2 cents:

I have had my most disappointing experiences as a patient at Vanderbilt. It always felt more like a city clinic. I've encountered the least professional staff there. The reception staff in various departments chat about personal plans or ask me loudly about personal info. I also always have the longest wait times there of any hospital. The doctors I've had have been good, but the experience overall is not good. I've had better "customer service" at Baptist.
My favorite hospital in the area is Williamson Medical Center in Franklin. It's smaller, and the care is more attentive and more like a family member (or one with infinite patience!).
I've had three children delivered there, been treated in a few departments, including ER and outpatient. It seems much better managed.

[TXRyan23]

Everytime I started a new job or had to fill out any health paperwork they would always ask what hospital I'd like to be taken to incase of emergency and keep in mind I lived in Madison, Hendersonville, and Mt. Juliet while in Middle Tennessee and I always picked Vanderbilt. I can't explain it but I've always trusted them compared to other hospitals and Skyline has turned into a ghetto hellhole of a hospital.

[septimus]

I know people that work at Vanderbilt, Baptist and Centennial and all seem professionally happy.

As a patient I've only ever been to Williamson. Williamson is a very good community hospital. I've been there for things like having a baby, broken bones and uncontrolled asthma attacks. The ER docs are good.

Baptist has the most amazing NICU.

[DonCorleone]

We had a great experience at Summit twice: once for delivering a baby and another time for an ER visit. We had such great service in both instances that I actually wrote a letter to the CEO of the hospital praising a few of the people who stood out.

As far as Nashville hospitals go, luckily I haven't had any personal experience with any of them. However, my family has always had good nurses, doctors, and staff at Baptist and Centennial. I definitely can see where Vanderbilt might seem like a "city clinic"...they always do seem to be polite but hurried. But as far as trauma or other catastrophic events go, I'd probably choose Vandy if I were conscious.

[brentwoodgirl]

I did not have a good experience as a patient at Centennial on the high-risk OB floor. The nurse messed up taking my blood and got blood all over the bed. Then no one would come change the sheets. My husband finally had to go get sheets and do it himself so I wouldn't have to continue laying in blood. Then they kept putting off the test my doctor told them to run. He wanted it run in the morning, but they didn't do it until dinner time- and I couldn't eat until it ended, so I went all night and day without eating or drinking, and my OB was pissed. He actually moved me from Centennial to Baptist in the middle of the night.

I have given birth at Baptist and it was wonderful all 3 times.

We have also had a child in the hospital at Vanderbilt and weren't overly impressed- lots of traveling nurses, no continuum of care. We finally started keeping our own schedule to make sure things were being done at the right times so we could get out on schedule.
But we have had wonderful experiences with some of the clinics, esp. the children's oncology clinic. They are wonderful.
One more positive note for Vandy- we once had a truly horrendous experience there, and I was so upset that I wrote a letter to the head of the hospital. He personally called me back, assured me he would fix the situation, and then gave me his home number so I could call him if we ever had a problem again. I was extremely impressed. We went to Memphis for care that year, but when we were ready to give Vandy another try, he actually had a patient coordinator call us to talk about what all the hospital could do to make sure everything went well.
I think the bad experience happened because we were one of the first patients at the new hospital. When we went back, everything was much better and we have never had a problem since.

[DonCorleone]

Wow, that is impressive to hear that the Vandy chief went out of his way to fix the problem. I mean, that's what he should do, but so often I think those critical letters like that probably just go into file 13.

One thing you said "continuum of care" reminded me...that is probably the one thing I would look for as a patient...does the staff seem to actually take an active interest in my care. I'm not saying they have to get personally involved, but do they seem to care. I think Baptist does this well, so does Summit, and my family's experience at Centennial was good.

I echo your sentiments about Vandy's clinics. I've been to the center at 100 Oaks for a neurologist visit and it is fantastic. Great staff, knowledgeable, and the doctors are literally the best in their fields.