Shawnee Mission Medical Center Hospital

I thought the nurses were excellent, with the exception of the final nurse who was discharging me. She gave me a shot in my arm that went through my arm & ran out down my sleeve, I didn't tell her because I just wanted to get out of there. I was also in a double room & the person in the other bed was in a lot of pain & had the staff running around all the time for her. When I needed help, the staff was there for me.

EVERYBODY THAT I HAD CONTACT WITH AT THIS HOSPITAL WAS SO NICE. THEY ALL TOOK THE TIME TO CARE. & ALL WISHED ME THE BEST OF LUCK. I WAS EVEN GIVEN A CARNATION WHEN I LEFT AFTER MY SURGERY

I only have two complaints about the hospital. One, I felt rushed...like it was a drive-thru surgery. Two, the nurse gave me a cracker to eat with my pain meds. I was grogged out from the anesthesia and asked him was he sure I was supposed to have it. He said yes, and said I should have the pain meds on an empy stomach. That was BAD BAD. I wasn't supposed to eat anything. My written instructions said NO FOOD AT ALL. I went home thinking that the exception to the no food rule was that I was supposed to eat a cracker when I take a pain pill. That was a serious slip-up on their part. The nurses should be EXTREMELY well versed about the needs of their patients because they cause someone serious harm.

Good

All my nurses were great. The recovery nurses were right there and got on top of reducing my pain after surgery right away. From that time on I had no pain.

There is an excellent staff set up to educate patients before and after surgery. I saw many of them the next day after surgery.

The evening of surgery was fine I was kinda out of it from the morphine but I still felt fine. We paid a little extra to make my room a provate room so my husband could stay all night with me and sleep there. I would have probably had a private room anyway but I wanted to make sure I would. It was an out-of-pocket expense but was worth my peace of mind about it. He is such an angel and such a help.

The nurses were very responsive. After the catheter was removed I knew from experience to call way ahead of time before I really "needed" to use the bathroom. All nurses are very busy in any hospital and if you wait until you are gonna bust your are only doing damage to yourself. So that was my longest wait to use the bathroom. But it wasn't too long about 20 min. I am a really good patient. I smile and laugh and crack jokes and it puts everyone at ease. I will speak up when I need something but understanding goes a long way.

Both the night nurses and the day nurses were great. I was up walking that night and the nurse and my husband went with me the first time. I took 4 walks that night and the rest of the times my husband went with me.

I had leakage from a jp drain and when I called about it they were very quick to respond and clean me up and help me in a fresh gown.

I thought SMMC was a great place. I had a wonderful stay.

I had surgery on March the 20th at 11:30 and was released and had left the hospital by 4:00 the 21st. I thought maybe I'd be staying longer since I was an afternoon surgery but there was no need to. I had a wonderful recovery at home and I was just fine. I was told by 2 of the WLS team to ask to be put on oral pain killer before I left so I would know it would take care of the pain. I did have to ask about that but I was allowed to leave when I felt comfortable and I was not rushed at all.

I enjoyed my experience at SMMC very much.

The only bad thing I had was during the night of surgery. I was in a semi private room, and my roommate had company at 10 PM that stayed until 11:30. They were talking very loud and it was awful.

At one point that night I felt sick, and I had to press the button 4 times before the nurse came.

The next day, I was feeling pretty well, but they told me I couldn't go home until the doctor released me. Dr. Hoehn had completed the paper work for me to leave the next morning, but the nurse didn't find it until 4:30 the next day!!! That was a little upsetting.

Day nurses were absolutely wonderful. The one night nurse that I had was not so great. She never came in to help me walk, in fact the only time I really saw her was when she told me that they were putting someone else in my room so my husband had to leave!

The only disappointment was the semi-private rooms. I was not happy with having a roomate on a full diet. The rooms were also too tiny for two beds. The staff however was super.

The reason so many of my responses are N/A is because I was rushed out of there so fast. I went into surgury around 11 and was home by 4:30. TOO FAST. I did not get the pain medications, I didn't even get a room--after I left recovery, I got dressed and went home.

It's too bad that you have to share a room with somebody. My roommate talked non stop either on the phone or to her boyfriend in person.