Saint Barnabas Medical Center (COE) Hospital

My entire experience was fantastic. The pre-op care was wonderful, my anesthesiologist was kind and caring, the nurses going into surgery were so terrific and Dr. Bilof my surgeon is the best. My post surgery care was OUTSTANDING. Nurse Manager Myrna Lim, RN of the Bariatric Unit, Danielle Hill,RN and Jocelyn (can't remember your last name Joce, sorry!) were all fantastic, kind, informed, helpful and so sensitive and wonderful. My nurses were also outstanding. Helpful, sensitive, considerate. I can't say enough about them. Natalyia, Nina, Mary Jo, June and Gwen were the absolute BEST nurses I could have had. What a fabulous team, I could not have done it without them!

Very professional and had a real team approach

Overall, St. Barnabas provided excellent facilities for handling and caring for overweight patients and I would agree with its recent designation as a role model for the rest of the nation.

The only 2 areas that I wouldn't list as excellent were as follows:

1) I exceeded the hospital weight limit for thier MRI. As a result, when I came down with a virus that spiked my white blood cell counts a week after the surgery, Dr. Nusbaum had to go back in and visually inspect for leakage because I couldn't use the MRI. Only 2 hospitals in NJ, though, apparently have an MRI that I could fit on at 450lbs.

2) Parking Lot needs to be repaved, the pot holes and uneven patching present a safety hazard and could cause someone to roll an ankle.

Staff was friendly and polite. I stayed overnight. My only complaint was that as a gastric banding patient, I was lumped into the same room with bypass patients. And my roommate (Bypass) was not comfortable and in pain. Since I felt well, I ended up tending to her instead of the nurses.

I was well taken care of, and also well treated.

I live and hour and a half away from this hospital and would not think twice about returning, if I need to.

I would go to any hospital that my surgeon, Dr. Nusbaum, operated out of. I'm more concerned about the excellence of the surgeon who is operating on me than I am about the quietness of my room. That being said - most of the staff that took care of me for my gastric bypass were wonderful. There was one nurse who didn't have a clue and upset me greatly. My blood sugar was having trouble stabalizing and he "reprimanded" me saying how did I expect my blood sugar to be normal if I didn't eat anything!!! Excuse me???? This was 1 day post-op and the only thing I was allowed was ice chips, diet jello and broth. Being a nurse myself (and being cranky because my blood sugar was low) I let him have it - verbally, and told him to get my surgeon on the phone and get an order for some intravenous dextrose to bring my sugar back up!! That was in November of 2004. I was just in again for some adhesions, March 2006. My nurse, Gwen, was a God send. She was wonderfully attentive and caring. The rooms are small, and there are no showers in the rooms - you have to use communal showers in the hallway but as I stated earlier as long as thats where my surgeon goes thats where I go.

It sucked. The staff was not helpful. It took many hours for them to respond to my needs. I was glad my cousing came and helped out, she was even amazed how unresponsive. I sat in the bathroom for about a half hour waiting for products so I can use the lavoratory and at one point they said they didn't have them. I waited for 4-5 hours for pain medicine for my throat, the surgeon was upset cause they gave me throat lozengers instead of a pain spray for my throat. I didn't even realize. that throat lozenger could have gotten stuck. BAD EXPERIENCE. then when i was moved i was in a room with a patient who was dillusional and I had to keep taking care of her, she kept on pulling her catheter out, and I had to keep calling for the nurses and they wouldnt even respond, I spent most of my last night in the hallway cause it was upseting me terribly because my roomate wasnt being taken care of either, and she had special needs. IT SUCKED! Oh yeah, it was filthy dirty!

My only complaint is that I was in a semi-private room on the first night I had a elderly roommate that yelled and cried all night long I didn't say anything because she was going to be discharged the next day and she was the another elderly patients was brought in her spot but I spoke to one of my nurses and at night that had moved the patient bed and all out into the hallway and I finally had a peafull night sleep. Overall this hosp was the best and I was very pleased with everything.

I work as an EMT and I get to have an insider's view of most of the hospitals in New Jersey. I know that St. Barnabas is an a superb hospital. All the bariatric patients are taken care of in the 4700 unit where all the nurses are specially trained. Should any problems have occured, I knew that their heart and other units are some of the best on the east coast.