NorthShore University HealthSystem

I have been with this group for too long. My doctor, who is awesome, does not work enough hours, he is not very accommodating, and is not very prompt at all. Perhaps it is the front desk people’s job for some of the complaints, either way, not happy. I am contemplating another group but the proximity to my house is unbeatable. I have not had a bad experience with diagnosis’s which is why we are at least a 3* and not 2. My suggestion is to make sure how many hours and days your primary will be there before making it a solid plan. Hope this helps.

This review is about the center for breast health, more specifically Dr. Lawrence Krause. I have been a patient of his for a little over 8 years. Just when I thought he could not get more amazing, he got more amazing! He is kind, patient and incredibly gentle. I recently had a scare and he was attentive, assertive and a true advocate. I will be forever grateful to him and all that he is. I would recommend Dr. Krause to anyone without question. Travel if you have to!

I have been with NorthShore for 7 years. My Doctors have been wonderful. I haven’t had any hospital stays. Dr. Phillip Sheridan and Dr. Singh (presence healthcare system) in glenview has been a great Drs. Both very knowledgable. Nothing but great experiences. Dr. Singh have sent me to several specialist Doctors who are all great.
No wait time on any visits. Can’t say enough great things about these Doctors

Had my first baby here. The nurses are wonderful!!! The rooms are nice and large (some are currently under renovation, but the ‘old’ rooms are still nice.) I had a room with a tub/​shower — so I could labor naturally. My room also had my single bed, 2 rocking chairs, a «couch» with center table that turns into a bed for Dad (I thought this was more comfortable than the mom’s bed), and a few chairs for guests.
Once you deliver, they swap out your bed and take several pieces of equipment out of the room — but you don’t have to switch rooms unless the place is full. They have free wifi and the food is ok. I recommend the omelets for breakfast. Food for mom is free, but not for Dad. We ended up ordering lunch and having it dropped off. They have a big TV in the room with regular channels plus good movie selections, but try to sleep!
You have a call button on your remote so you can page a nurse anytime and they will do anything you need. They have a great hands free system where they can page each other too. They check on you for temperature, blood pressure, etc periodically and a pediatrician comes every morning to check on baby. The staff lactation consultant comes by daily as well.
Tips — bring your own shampoo. Other than that — they have everything you need. If the bed moving every 5 minutes bothers you — unplug it! I also brought nursing tanks for me and a robe to cover up (post delivery). Baby wore her own onesies with a shirt from them under it. I mostly stayed in bed in the lovely mesh underwear and ice diapers. This was easiest from a cleanliness and checking on you perspective. I would throw on the robe when I got up.

I’m only giving the hospital a fun 3 stars because my father was a patient on the cardiac floor for weeks and that staff did a wonderful job. 5 out if 5. I was looking forward to the same treatment.
If I could give the maternity ward a separate review it would be 1 star.
I gave birth earlier this year and had a c section due to complications. The c section staff was really professional and helpful. The nursing staff was hit or miss. Some nurses were awesome while others were incredibly rude. Visits to my room for exams were done nearly every 50 minutes which made it so hard to sleep. At one point during my stay there was a loud gathering of staff outside my door around midnight. I almost couldn’t believe it. My mother came to the hospital to wait in my room while I recovered from the surgery. They turned my mother away (they might have assumed she meant the surgery room) and she ended up driving home.
One specific nurse was a real nightmare. This woman had a cold and informed me she had to stay because other staff called off. She had terrible body odor and in what I assume was an attempt to be funny– made a comment about my husband not doing anything.
I was moved upstairs to make room for other patients. They really need to be clear in their tours that they are renovating and you’ll most likely be moved. I really wouldn’t have cared, but they also seemed to be under staffed. The main nurse upstairs was wonderful, but clearly overwhelmed. This poor woman was running back and forth between rooms. The floor was very quiet and you could hear everything in the hall way. We could hear the buzzer go off every 10 minutes in the other rooms. I waited an hour and a half for ice water because my original nurse went home.
Ultimately, I had a healthy child and I know it’s trivial to complain about a lot of these things. However, it’s not free and I feel that the highland park maternity ward is misrepresenting itself. Lastly, I’d like to say how much I appreciated the food service lady (Evelyn, I believe) and the cleaning lady. They were bright spots on a very stressful stay.
I will definitely consider another hospital for my next child.

Oh, just another typical Friday… well, not really.
I will say my life is never boring, and when my hubby woke me up at 4:30 am to tell me he was having a horrible sharp stomach pain and that he’s taking himself to the ER, I knew my tough-​as-​an-​ox-​hubby wasn’t messing around. Thankfully I didn’t have that horrible doom and gloom feeling in my gut and knew he’d be okay, but nonetheless I was worried. First of all I was worried that he wouldn’t arrive okay and second I hoped he would be seen right away once he got there.
After juggling the kiddos to school, I headed over and was directed to his temporary room where he seemed to be in great hands. Lynette, his nurse, made sure he had everything he needed. Upon arrival he had already seen a few docs and had a few tests. His pain was completely gone by the time I got there, and instead of moving him to a more permanent room situation, which means more $$ and a longer stay, they worked hard to push him through to more tests with Dr. Stern, the cardiologist, to make sure his stress tests were normal before releasing him. We were told 11am was the time they arranged for the test and at 11am they escorted us to the testing room like clockwork. That never happens! Wonderful.
My hubby was wheeled downstairs to the basement room where all the testing is done. They insisted on not letting him walk for liability reasons, even though he would have been more than capable. We checked into our room and Dr. Stern met us in there. He was sweet, funny and put everyone at ease. He got right to the monitoring of my hubby’s heart during the treadmill tests. Dr. Stern put us at ease and was a lovely conversationalist while we anxiously waited for our results. Thankfully he gave us the thumbs up for his release. If I ever need a cardiologist, Dr. Stern is on the top of my list.
After returning to the room, Dr. Rice, the on-​call Dr. for my hubby, was also wonderful and charming and made sure to double check all the reports and tests and assured us that we were ready to go home. He was also the one who initially handled the ultrasound and blood tests.
The ER room was terrific and calm. It seemed to be divided in half where there was a lot more action taking place on the other side. Even with that, everyone working there was quiet and professional and no one appeared stressed.
The café, where I popped in for some Starbucks coffee, was a quick grab-​it-​to-​go no big thrills stop with tables for those wanting to eat, work, or take time out. The gift shop was upscale and hilarious. Beauty products and nail polish. Fancy clothing you might see in a shop downtown, and the women running it obviously had long-​term retail experience. I might suggest they get a better selection of magazines.
Overall, I was satisfied with my hospital experience. Though I typically like to return to 5-​star stops, I hope this place is just a stop when necessary.
The good news is that everyone is fine and it’s like it never happened :-)

This is a review of labor/​delivery and postpartum care only at Highland Park Hospital. I had a normal VBAC in fall 2014.
I do NOT recommend this hospital for labor, delivery or postpartum care. The biggest factor? Staff was callous, uncaring and openly rude.
The good:
(1) Excellent doctors (including our pediatrician).
(2) The delivery rooms are spacious and quiet, with a private bathroom.
The bad:
(1) The nurses. Several were openly rude and uncaring. The nurse who handled my intake barely spoke English. She claimed she couldn’t «find my file» and while I was struggling to get through my contractions (dilated to 8 cm!) and could barely speak, she was asking me basic medical questions (like my birthday, height, weight) for half an hour. I kept asking when I could get the epidural and she said they couldn’t even start the process until I finished answering her questions.
Another nurse took my blood pressure and noted it was too low. When I asked what that meant, she snapped «It means your blood pressure is low» and left. Some nurses were sick (so irresponsible in a newborn ward). ALL of the nurses neglected to tell me that the drug they gave me (Norco) caused constipation which — when you are recovering post-​partum, is a pretty big consideration.
While this hospital prides itself on «rooming in» and how that apparently eads to better breastfeeding, the nurses essentially just push your newborn’s face into your chest and don’t bother to take time and teach you how to breastfeed.
(2) You will get little to no rest or sleep. It’s unnecessary, but every 2 hours someone will come in to poke and prod you. Most tests are routine (taking your pulse) and could be done all during one exam. A doctor friend told me this is because they want to bill as many services as possible.
(3) The beds MOVE automatically every five minutes to prevent bedsores — and there is no way to turn them off. This was absolute torture as this prevented me from sleeping at all. The doctor admitted that they have frequent complaints about them.
(3) The day after I delivered and was recovering from a serious 3^rd degree tear (stitches with 6 – 8 weeks recovery time), we were forced to change to an upstairs room. I couldn’t walk five steps to the bathroom without crying in pain and fear and without profusely bleeding. It was clear that none of the staff cared; nobody listened to us and they just gave us a time we had to get out. Finally, I asked for a walker –and I was told that the hospital did NOT have any. So my husband had to essentially carry me up there.
I think the main point here is that the postpartum care is frankly, horrifying. I don’t know if this is the norm in other hospitals, but I wouldn’t wish my experience on anyone else.

This is a review of the maternity services at Highland Park Hospital. I had a vacuum-​assisted vaginal delivery there in September 2013. It should not be considered a review of any other aspect of the hospital. I’m going to list the pros and cons, as I see them.
Pros:
— My doctor (one of the family practice residents there) and his attending physician (also family practice) were excellent. If this were a review of them alone, it would be a 5-​star review. I told them that I wanted as few interventions as possible and they did everything they could to make that happen.
— They accept medicaid patients
— They offer labor-​delivery-​recovery-​­postpartum rooms. You stay in the same room for your entire stay. I liked this very much.
— The rooms have private showers.
— The nurses who attended the actual delivery, both the baby nurse and my nurse, were just excellent. They praised me for writing a birth plan and followed the postpartum aspects of it to a T. My son was placed on my chest immediately, the cord was not clamped until it had stopped pulsing, and I declined the eye drops. Nobody gave me any grief about any of this.
— I was allowed to push in different positions, though I ultimately wound up on my back to facilitate vacuum extraction.
— They encourage rooming in with the baby and breastfeeding.
— They had no problem with my doula attending my delivery.
The Meh:
— Not gonna list this as a «con,» per se, but most of the doctors practicing here like to see induction at 41 weeks for no reason other than that you’re 41 weeks. The evidence for the benefits of this vs. waiting till 42 weeks seems mixed.
Cons:
— The first nurse I had made numerous comments that bothered me. She told me I couldn’t eat in labor but refused to explain why, giving answers to the effect of «because I say so!»; if this is hospital policy, then that bothers me, because withholding food from women in labor is not an evidence-​based practice. She joked about turning up her patients’ Pitocin to punish them. When she came to put in my IV, she said, «You flinch at an IV stick but you’re doing this without the epidural? This will not go well.» I get why nurses prefer patients who get epidurals, but I feel pretty strongly that if a woman comes in and says she wishes to labor without the epidural, the staff should just respect and support her choice.
— About an hour after giving birth, I got up to go to the bathroom. I’d been in the bathroom for maybe 10 minutes when one of my postpartum nurses hollered at me that if I couldn’t urinate on my own, she would have to put a catheter in me. She made it sound like a threat. Not only was it way too early to be worrying about my ability to urinate on my own, but a medical procedure should NEVER be mentioned to a patient as a form of threat.
— I was upset about needing to be continuously monitored due to Pitocin induction, wanting to be more mobile and not stuck to a bed. The birthing center does not seem to be equipped with a wireless continuous monitor unit as one was not offered to me.
— Birthing stools are not available.
— The episiotomy rate is 15.5%, which is slightly higher than Leapfrog’s suggested target rate of 12%. Other hospitals in the area have rates as low as 4.1%. (I was not given an episiotomy.)
— The overall c-​section rate is 31.5%, which is about on par with the Illinois average. However, as a native of Alaska (22.6% c-​section rate) who went to college in Utah (23.1% c-​section rate), I still think this is far too high. Centegra Hospital of McHenry is also a level 2 perinatal unit of comparable size, and they have a 22.1% rate.
— My bill included a $ 4292 charge for «operating room services.» My doctor later told me that a c-​section team was scrambled while I was pushing as my son was having serious decels and they suspected a complex presentation (in fact he was posterior). The team was only put on notice for 3 – 4 minutes. $ 4292 seems a bit steep for 4 minutes of c-​section prep.
Overall I would give the hospital 3 stars. Combined with the 5 stars I would give the doctors at the hospital, this is a 4 star review.

I had to stay overnight from a procedure and found overall the staff was wonderful and extremely pleasant. except one thing, the two CNA’s I had originally were whining and basically complaining to each other the whole time. I’m in the healthcare industry myself and this is a no-​no, not in front of patients. They just need some training in this area and understand the energy to exuded will get passed down to the patients. Who wants their blood pressure taken from a cranky CNA, I don’t.

The only reason I’m giving this 2 stars instead of one is because my experience through delivery was nice. It was once my son was born that it went downhill. I told the nurses/​doctors that I was exclusively breast feeding and that he was not to receive any formula or sugar water. We roomed in and he latched and nursed without any problems.
The next day, my husband took our son to the nursery for his hearing test. He was awake and fussy, so they were having a hard time getting a good test performed. To calm him down, the nurse put her finger in sugar water and placed it in my son’s mouth before my husband could realize what she was doing! It was at that point we knew we could not trust that they would abide by our wishes.
Later, when the jaundice test came back and he was just slightly high (an 11), they came to me to tell me they wanted to give him formula. I explained that I was exclusively breast feeding and would not be using formula. That’s when the pediatrician on call brought in the nurse (and a backup nurse to intimidate me), and attempted to use scare tactics to get me to use formula. She said he wasn’t getting enough milk, I explained to her that a newborn’s stomach only holds 5 – 7 ml of liquid and I was pumping 10 ml of colostrum per breast! Over the next 48 hours, they continued to try and pressure me into giving him formula. It wasn’t until my milk came in and I was expressing 5 oz (in between feedings!) and building a stash in their refrigerator that they stopped with the formula comments.
Because we didn’t trust them, one of us stayed with our son when he was in the nursery under the lights. It was then that we got to witness them pressuring another young couple, that wanted to exclusively breast feed their jaundiced son, into feeding their child formula. After making the mother feel like she was hurting her child by exclusively breast feeding, and having her in tears, the mother gave in and supplemented with formula.
The morning that we were leaving, a hospital representative came by to ask me how my stay was. Both my husband and I told her about our experience in detail. I had expected some kind of follow up, apology… something. Nothing. We heard nothing from them.
If I ever have another child, I would consider a home delivery before I’d ever have another child at this hospital!

Clean hospital with a friendly, polite, and caring staff.

One week after invasive tests were performed, I can report that the staff were friendly and competent. I can’t comment on billing yet.
A disturbing note: Today I received a call from a third party asking me to rate my experience at HPH! A third party!
So much for my privacy under the HIPAA laws! PRC (Professional Service Consultants). I told them that I believe HPH has violated my privacy by giving PRC my information.

Absolutly the worst hospital I have ever been involved with.
My wife has been bed bound for 9 months because of this place.
The nurses are rude, the Dr. s are crap at best. I had one Dr. tell her to give up and die!!!
She has been in and out of there for nine months. Last weekend she was to come home Saturday at 4pm. A nurse told me around 11:00 she will be b back with her discharge orders. A half hour later I find her talking to her husband on the phone asking him if he missed her??? Come on! Well 4pm came and went. She showed up at home at 10pm! Because the nurses forgot to order her meds she needed before she left! You would be better off at the local animal hospital than this place!

Fortunately I have never been a patient there. But the blood draw at the lab by Galina is not painful and is easy. Very nice staff at lab.

I haven’t spent a ton of time in hospitals, but of the three I have experienced in my life, HP hospital is in the top two. The nurses are extremely nice and very helpful. Other staff were professional and kind. I felt I was really taken care of, and you need that when you are having surgery. My surgery went well and I’ve had no complaints since, so that helps in my view of this hospital, too.

I have visited here almost 100 times in the last 6 years. My family and I have gone for something as simple as a finger sliced open to mammograms, PAP smears, blood work, cardiac rehab, physical rehab, etc. to name a few.
The doctors here are caring and at the top of their profession. The administration has significantly improved over the years, as all records are now online and easy to view. You can message your doctor and get responses from them or one of their staff directly. They are affiliated with the University of Chicago, and so you will see interns, residents, etc.
The only reason this is not a 5 star review is because of the complexity of the layout. Yes, it is hard to find some of the office and the cafeteria is in the basement.

SERVICE. I have been here 100’s of times. Both of my kids were born here and every issue since then has been addressed quickly and professionally. from simple dehydration to my son cutting off the first part of his finger (that they were able to reattach and works and looks perfect). weather big or small they handle it all. There never seems to be a wait!

I don’t think you should write a review of a HOSPITAL based on one thing (as several of the other reviews below do). There are many things that comprise of a hospital: the Dr. s, the nurses, the other staff, the cleanliness, the care recieved, the timeliness of service, the size of rooms, the food, the cost, etc, etc, I could go on for an hour. This being said, I don’t think some of the low-​ratings are fair. One should take numerous things into account when reviewing.
I’d been here couple of times to visit family members. I thought this place was nice enough. My family members were satisfied with their visits: including the service provided by both Drs and nurses. The rooms were a fair size, and clean.
I’m basing my review off of my own personal visit to the Emergency Room last week. I went in on a Thursday afternoon. I was helped quickly, the ladies at the very front entrance were certainly kind. The triage nurse was kind. They helped me back to an E.R. «room», where a volunteer came by to give me blankets, and see if I needed anything. The Dr who came in was kind. The nurses who came in were kind and explained what they were doing. There was no waiting time to get into the ER Room. I waited a little while for a Dr. to see me, but since i was already in the E.R. room (as opposed to sitting in a waiting room) I was ok with waiting a little while. They came in to get me to do Xrays promptly. Results came back promptly. All in all, I was in and out and taken care of in under 3 — 3 & ½ hours. Not too shabby.
The place was clean and bright. Seemed fairly modernized. I can’t complain! I’d come back here.

What can I say about Highland Park Hospital… this entire experience has been a train wreck from the very beginning.
The good: The nurses were very caring pre surgery, and my surgeon, who is an outside doctor on staff was excellent as well.
The rest: Shortly after I was moved from the recovery room, I was given antibiotics. I asked what they were, and was told that it was a penicillin derivative. I asked them to substitute another, as I am terribly allergic to all penicillin. I was told that I didn’t know what I was talking about because I was still under the influence of the anesthetic, and was given the injection anyway. From this experience, I learned that when they have to inject Benadryl to stop allergic reactions, it really hurts. After the second time they insisted on giving me the same antibiotic, my husband was finally able to convince them to switch medications. Twenty-​four hours later, I finally got to leave.
At this point I thought the story was over, and I was safely home. Not so…
My date of service was in November, I paid my total balance due in February, and my insurance company clearly states that the balance I owe should be zero, but I am still receiving bills for wildly varying amounts ranging from $ 7700 to $ 180 dollars. I have been threatened with collections, and have been rudely spoken to every time I contested the charges for months on end — every time claiming that they have no record of my payment, although I have sent it numerous times.
This is one of the most unethical and poorly managed hospitals I have ever had the displeasure to deal with, and if you or your loved ones have the need to visit a hospital I would recommend going anywhere but here.

The cafeteria is located in the basement and is ill-​placed; you have to wind your way around several corridors before reaching it and if you are bringing your meal to your room it will be a journey, with cold, empty sustenance at the end of the boring odyssey.
Most of the cooks seem disgruntled, maybe from serving doctors day after day, or patients and their captive, nervous loved ones, thus I suppose they only interact with stressed or sad individuals, so the indifference and attitude is merited.
To the left/​west, is the cold grocery or dry items, and salad bar. The north is a hot bar for pasta, wraps and paninis. The south is the grill. Near the checkout, on the right is all the desserts: cookies, cake slices, brownies (turtle was the best), and in the summer, ice cream sandwiches, cones, chocotacos and the like.
Of it all, the grilled chicken breast sandwich, turkey burger, veggie burger, and turkey sandwich are good. The grilled cheese is nasty. I hated the fried chicken! The pizza is huge and terrible; a doughy, greasy, monolithic disaster. Easily 2x the size of a Pizza Hut personal pan and bland and oily as the ugliest, over the hill, Jersey Shore Guido. The breakfast grits are good, oatmeal thicker than my dense, sophomoric personality.
If you are a doctor or patient your meal card charges the same if you buy a granola bar or huge meal, like 7 or 10 dollars. You can grab as much as you want to take with, the pre-​packaged stuff or myriad tea bags and soft drinks and it will cost the same.
Unfortch, there are only two toasters, so if you buy a bagel or bread for toast or bialys prepare to wait; there are tons of patients and staff.
The Ensure is a fine vintage. *No K.* One can smoke at the bus stop near the entrance, by the south parking lot, if they choose.
No eye candy, no ambiance, likely one retreats to their room and has a terrible meal. Which not inherent upon anything other than the reality of hospital food, due to cost cutting of the ingredients and preparation, and logistics of the location. Not the heart or intent of the administration or hospital proper.