NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Emergency Department

Came to the ER around 1 am after my 9 month old was burned by spilled hot water earlier at 11 am. She only had redness and a tiny bubble during the day, was eating, moving and acting normal, so we cooled the burn, wrapped it with Vaseline and non stick gauze and monitored her. At 11 pm the burn suddenly looked much worse, so we rushed to the ER. We also had a 9 am international flight and wanted her wound wrapped properly before travel. There were not many pediatric patients, yet we waited over two hours with no updates. The first doctor who saw her asked us to undress her and said they’d apply ointment and gauze but then never came back. No one told us whether to redress her so after an hour we had to ask ourselves. Doctors were sitting behind the counter talking while we waited. When we asked a nurse to check our wait time because of the upcoming flight, only then did another doctor come. The resident who introduced herself immediately asked if we spoke English, which felt like an unnecessary assumption. When she learned the burn happened at 11 am, she reacted with a shocked “you’re just bringing her now?” even after we explained there was no blistering earlier. Instead of focusing on treating the wound, her tone felt judgmental. She kept repeating “you cannot fly” in an accusatory way rather than explaining calmly. While waiting, the blister ruptured on its own. Our baby was tired, hungry, crying, and still in the same diaper with an open wound exposed. I had to walk up myself and ask for it to be wrapped immediately. This is an ER, urgency should not require begging, especially for an infant. When we said we preferred to take her to another hospital, the resident refused and insisted it was a “medical emergency” and we were not allowed to drive her ourselves. The situation escalated and another doctor had to step in to calm things down. The resident continued with a rude, condescending tone instead of compassion, which made everything worse. Because the blister had already ruptured, we agreed to transfer to the Manhattan hospital. The manager who spoke with us was professional and kind, one of the few positive parts of this visit. The ambulance transfer was even more concerning. We asked the resident why we were being forced to take the ambulance and were told it was “safer.” It was not. They put her in a small toddler booster seat with no head support, even though we brought our own infant car seat. Had I not stepped in to strap her properly, she would have slipped out. The EMTs struggled and did not seem confident. Her head was bouncing, and the setup felt unsafe for an infant. When we arrived at the Manhattan hospital, the difference was immediate. The nurse was kind and comforting. The doctors got straight to work with no attitude or judgment, only professionalism and urgency. They even tried to help us move quickly to still make our flight. We arrived around 6 am and were discharged by 7:10 am. Despite being busier, the care was far better than what we experienced at the first ER. This experience showed us that next time, we’re going straight to a Manhattan hospitals.

I’ve been coming to this hospital for 3 decades. My 89 year old mom just went to ER today and had a worst experience in her life. Nurses in ER are so unprofessional, they treat patients like child, all they do is telling patients “do this or don’t do that” they have no interest anything to make patient comfortable, you hardly see doctor, you might see internship doctors who just graduated or nurses most of times, they keep try to hide something because they are not proud of what they do. My mom wouldn’t go back here or I wouldn’t send her to this hospital ever again. My whole family went to this hospital for long time but not again.

DO NOT LET THE AMBULANCE BRING YOU HERE! The doctors, nurses and staff are nice and do what they can, but the whole ER is awful. Over crowded, under staffed, beds lined up with less than 12” of room between. Then a row of more beds parallel parked in front of them blocking them in. No chairs for family to sit, expect to be there for 24 hours regardless of your ailments. The only thing that stopped me from crashing out is the in-house Starbucks.

This hospital and the staff are bottom tier. The nurse (upon enter the emergency room)as she made clear that she was, was absolutely horrendous. They(nurse and receptionist )will sit in front of your face just talking and having conversation without saying one moment or give me a minute. In addition the receptionist sitting next to the nurse wasn’t any better herself. No one holds these individuals to the standard they should. The staff here is worn out and overwhelmed and it shows in more ways than one. Simple mannerisms are lost. I came here with my son as he was having trouble breathing and there is absolutely no sense of urgency at all. If you don’t or can’t go to the Presbyterian hospital on 68th street in manhattan my recommendation is going to cohen children’s hospital it is 1000 percent better.

Even if one had a dying emergency, I would NOT recommend or advise to go to this location in Flushing. NYP is a great hospital but this location in Queens particularly is by far the worst place for any medical emergency. To be specific, I am referring only to the registration staff, security personnel and overall experience in the waiting room. Needless to say that long wait is always expected in the ER and people deal with that. However, the way these folks, in the NYPQ location, treat patients and their families, regardless of age, severity or special need in the waiting room was beyond disgusting and despicable. A bunch of unprofessionals, insensitive, immoral individuals who are in the wrong profession and in the wrong place. No compassion, regard or empathy. I repeat, if you must go to a NYP hospital, go to the one in UES.