St. Agnes isn't as well known in the Baltimore area as some of the other hospitals, even ones of comparable size, but as it is the closest one to our house, it is where we take the kids when we need an emergency room, and we've had one inpatient stay on the pediatric floor.
For emergency care, I've been very impressed. They have a separate pediatric triage area so you are seen almost immediately (our wait in the general waiting room has never been more than 20 minutes) and a separate pediatric area in the ER for treatment. The doctors we've seen were all very good, both at dealing with children (screaming and sick in the middle of the night) and their ailments. The technicians--x-ray, respiratory, etc.--are also very good with children. I've always left feeling that we got the best treatment possible with clear instructions of what to do next.
For the inpatient stay, I wasn't as impressed. The care was reasonably good, but the rooms were uncomfortable, the food wasn't appealing to children, and they didn't make very many accommodations for the age of the patient. My son, for example, was two years old and had his right hand out of commission because of an IV, so he was having real difficulties drinking anything because he couldn't handle the cups with one small hand. As a result, he was beginning to get dehydrated but the hospital wasn't able to come up with a cup that a two year old *could* handle with one hand. The hospital staff also didn't' t let us know about things that could have made my son's stay more comfortable--we discovered a playroom down the hall on our own, but didn't know that a tv/VCR was available until we were checking out.
I will continue taking my children there for emergency care, but should we ever need to stay overnight, I will try another facility.
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