Hospital in Sarasota (Venice, Nokomis: ob-gyn, insurance, home)

[olderandwiser456]

Sarasota Memorial Hospital seems to be the main healthcare facility in the Sarasota area. Do any of the residents on this board have experiences at SMH they can share (good and bad)?

Another question would be if anyone moving to Sarasota has had difficulty finding doctors who are taking new Medicare patients. I'd be interested in hearing about new retirees moving to the area and their experiences finding new doctors.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

I had a heart problem and was admitted to Sarasota Memorial and was very impressed with the hospital, doctors, and nurses - I received great care.

Not sure about Medicare because I am not old enough or retired yet. I can see why you ask - when I was trying to find a Dr. that took Medicare for my Mom in Northern Virginia it was very difficult.

[olderandwiser456]

Originally Posted by Nancy in Nokomis

I had a heart problem and was admitted to Sarasota Memorial and was very impressed with the hospital, doctors, and nurses - I received great care.

Not sure about Medicare because I am not old enough or retired yet. I can see why you ask - when I was trying to find a Dr. that took Medicare for my Mom in Northern Virginia it was very difficult.

Thanks for the info on your experience with SMH. I'm glad you had a good experience.

Re: Medicare and docs taking new patients, in some parts of the country, the only options for docs taking new patients are Residents (students who have rec'd their MD, but are still in their post MD Residency training program at a particular hospital). While some Residents might be very good, they are young and inexperienced, but may be the only option in some places. I'm hoping Florida isn't as challenging for finding established docs taking new Medicare patients. Hopefully some retirees in Florida will share their experience.

[jean_ji]

If you are planning on retiring to a snowbird area of FL, get a doctor before snowbird season. I needed a doctor after a hospital visit in early January two years ago and the first new patient appointment was mid March. While I'm retired, but not on Medicare yet, it was difficult to find doctors accepting any new patients, irregardless of what insurance you may have.

[dotbowels]

We use Intercoastal Medical Group in Sarasota. We found doctors we like there. They are affiliated with SMH. They also have a Saturday Clinic for their own patients, which I needed to use once. If you're going to have non-routine ongoing issues do your do diligence & see if they have what you need, Good Luck Dorothy

[loves2read]

Several experiences with main hospital--and Venice satellite--

4.5 yrs ago Our daughter had her son delivered there via C-section after long labor under medication because she was already a week overdue...
Baby was much larger than Ob-gyn estimated and had cord double wrapped...
Would have died in normal delivery...
All went well and she had quick recovery
So that was positive...

About 3 wks later baby developed severe GI infection...their first child...they didn't really know how bad it was and the pediatrician they thought would be in practice w/their family doctor moved so they only had a GP--not infant specialist--who really had not seen the baby at that point...
Went to hospital ER-- had horrible experience...the ER kept them waiting b4 going into triage...the doctor and nurse did not recognize the stools had blood in them...
grandson was in bad shape when he finally got admitted and sent to neonatal...after my SIL complained long and hard about how sick his son was and the lack,of help in ER...
Upstairs the pediatrician who saw him immediately recognized the severity...boy was in bad shape...
Very dehydrated and unresponsive...

After they managed to start treatment and stabilize she was so incensed at how poorly the ER had assessed his situation that she called the head of hospital and complained about the ER treatment and triage process.
The hospital decided not to charge for any of the ER care (since there was none basically)...
So you know how bad the ER care was and I guess while the pediatrician was really angry about the dangerous lack of skill down there the hospital admin were trying to avoid a lawsuit probably...
One of the nurses in ER was fired because he drew blood for specific type of test from wrong blood stream (vein instead of artery or vice versa) and no one recognized blood in his stool--very dangerous signal for 2 wk baby...

The night of grandson's birth, my husband and I were driving home and were T-boned by driver in older 4-runner at Stickley Pt...our car was totaled--her SUV was totaled and rolled in intersection...
Luckily no one had serious injuries but we all went to ER in ambulance to Sarasota Memorial...
I want really impressed w/ER (and this was 2 wks before grandson was there)
Very cursory review...I had severe pain in my knees from airbags in knee well and seat belt trauma but no X-rays were taken...
The interview w/state trooper took,longer than the doctor's...

We have been to,the hospital annex in Venice for URI/bronchitis issues several,times...
That is usually pretty fast and have had probably as good an outcome as from any walk-in clinic...
They do,other things there...can get mammograms and guess they have regular doctors for non ER visits

[photoman_6]

you might want to see if your doctor has privileges at doctors Hospital. Got very good care there for a hip replacement stay, though it was only a few days.

[Picshooter]

Ever since 1976, 3 Kids, and 2 grandkids born at SMH. Every one of those experiences was excellent. I had a recent personal tour of the Trauma and ICU. I was impressed with every minute of care.I felt like they truly cared.
There was a time I was being treated at the emergency room. A nurse had a heart to heart with me regarding sky high blood pressure. She did more to encourage a healthy lifestyle and regular checkups than any other person or event in my life. To this day I regret I did not get her name. SMH has been good to me.

[SUSMUSIC]

I first moved here two years ago. I'm on Medicare and I didn't have too much trouble finding a doctor but It took awhile to find one that I liked. I have switched doctors a few times in the two years I have been living here. My primary care doctors are at First Physicisns Group which is affiliated with Sarasota Memorial, hand I am basically pretty satisfied with them. For specialist care, my insurance requires a referral. I think this depends on your plan.

Last fall, I had surgery at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Overall, I was quite pleased. The staff was very caring. My room was comfortable. My surgeon was affiliated with SMH. I cannot speak for Doctors Hospital because I have never been there.

[olderandwiser456]

Thanks so much for all the responses. I'm glad that some have had good experiences at SMH, and thanks for mentioning other clinics and hospitals. I will make a visit to the area to see if it's a good fit for me for possible full-time retirement, but in the meantime, I want to do research on various aspects of living in the area. I don't have major health issues, but I would certainly find a primary care doc as soon as I relocated, so I would have a contact and he/she could take care of the small stuff.

As far as ERs go, they are not always the best places to get great care, given the chaos and unpredictability of who is coming in, level of injury or illness, etc. I've had great ER care and terrible ER care in the same hospital, it just depends on who the docs are, who the other patients are (triage time), etc. And of course, there are the inexperienced Residents doing their training in ERs, if the hospital is a training facility. Lots of mistakes happen in hospitals all over the country, and I've come to believe that it's hard to find consistently excellent care. If I can get my problem taken care of with a minimum of hassle, and maybe have a pleasant experience overall, I'm happy. Thanks again for sharing your experiences.