Sanford USD Medical Center and Hospital

What a wonderful experience during a stressful time! I would rate this as my top hospital experience as a visitor/support member. From the time we were greeted thru the pre-surgery, surgery, post-surgery and beyond to discharge, there was NOTHING I could say except...PHENOMENAL! Your staff members are all top notch, the nurses and folks in pre-surgery and Floor 5000 were all above-and-beyond! The communications and updates were constant and that whole process impressive. Thank you for making this experience a warm, positive memory when it could have been so bad. KUDOS to your whole team!

I was admitted for four days at Sanford USD Medical Center and it felt like deliberate neglect. I was admitted from the emergency department to the hospital completely unable to walk. Instead of admitting me for acute neurological/mobility loss, they chose "malnutrition" (a comorbidity after 20-lb weight loss in one month). I went days without eating due to severe nausea and dizziness and did not see a dietician until days into my stay. When she finally came, she was kind and created a plan -- but the food delivered was half-hearted and barely matched it. One of the worst things during my stay, that truly affected my physical and mental state, was the assigned doctor to my case ignoring nurses' repeated messages about my prescribed daily prednisone. The first day I went a full 36 hours without it; my body locked up rigidly, pain was excruciating and I couldn't move on my bed. For multiple days I only received the dose at 6 p.m. meaning I suffered violent withdrawal symptoms all day, every day, unnecessarily. When neurology saw me in the hospital, the neurologist barely examined me and overrode his intern who brought up testing. He was quick to declare a diagnosis that did not explain my symptoms and did not even have the full criteria to be thrown in. I was also told that I am supposedly depressed and it manifests as pain so that is my problem. Physical therapy was very rude and told me to push through the rigid paralysis from prednisone withdrawal and also that I just needed to believe in myself. I was then pushed into a psychiatric consult who, after meeting with me, pushed back and said this was clearly not psychiatric. I told the staff in tears all I wanted was to get better to be home with my children that depended on me and it was used against me. Only after I called Patient Relations in the middle of the night, leaving a message, did anything change. They assigned a new doctor to my case that was willing to take this seriously and provide adequate care. Lastly, I was not even weighed at discharge even though they said I was there for malnutrition. I found out now I have a genetic connective tissue disorder. I told them about my dislocations and joint instability and instead of thinking EDS or looking into genetic factors they dismissed it as psychosomatic. If you are chronically ill with a complex case, proceed with extreme caution coming to this hospital. If we had the financial means and weren't tied up with debilitating health problems we would be pursuing legal action. My husband has had to take on the full load of our children while also trying to work, when we have someone to take his place, so we can try and keep up on bills.

All of the staff were so kind and helpful. My husband spent the night with our son after surgery and he was impressed with how often and thoroughly the nurses checked on him. He also liked the way the dr explained the surgery procedure. We are very happy with our experience and thank all of Sanford staff for their kindness during our difficult time.

I want to give a huge shoutout to Nurse Makayla for taking such great care of my husband, Adam, today. She was incredibly kind, caring, and talkative, which really helped calm my nerves before his leg surgery. Also, a big thank-you to Dr. Vandy and all the medical staff, nurses, and team members who helped us today. We truly appreciate everything you did for us!

I was appalled and disgusted when I recently went to the Sanford ER to visit a patient. I had to pick up a phone in the arrival area and tell them who I was there to see before I was allowed in. However, this is the season for all kinds of nasty viruses and other maladies. To have to pick up and talk into a phone that was used by everyone else in the waiting room was nothing more than an invitation to catch something. The ER waiting area was full of people. I cannot believe that you would have such an antiquated system unless perhaps you were hoping to spread these germs and viruses to get more patients??????