Hospitals in northern Virginia DC metro area with best reputations?

July 16, 2015 9:31 AM

My mother recently had a wretched time at Reston hospital. She doesn't want to go back there, nor do the rest of us. We'd like to have a plan about a better hospital to go to the next time there is an emergency. We've looked at Yelp, etc., but would like some more filtered insight into our options in the area.
posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

I have had really good experiences with older relatives who were hospitalized at Virginia Hospital Center. I would recommend it, and would go there myself if I had to go to the hospital.
posted by procrastination at 9:37 AM on July 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

I (and everyone I know) love Sibley.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:47 AM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Seconding Virginia Hospital Center. I had major surgery there, as well as two years of follow up care through them. The staff is attentive, the equipment is state of the art, and the accommodations are nice. Highly recommend them.
posted by bluloo at 10:03 AM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sibley is absolutely wonderful, but is a bit far to go to in an emergency if she lives in Reston. I would second Virginia Hospital Center for time sensitive illness.
posted by gudrun at 10:18 AM on July 16, 2015

I had a fine time in Virginia Hospital Center's ER once, plus my dear sweet mother works there as a nurse in surgical rehab. Seems quite nice in general whenever I'm there.
posted by 4th number at 10:25 AM on July 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Mr. hmo had to go to Virginia Hospital Center's ER, and they treated him like a person who had an illness, not just a body in a bed.

They were also very respectful to me, allowing me to accompany him to procedures and even stopping his gurney a few times so we could hug before he was shuttled off to be prodded.

Totally recommend collapsing suddenly at home again!
posted by hmo at 10:31 AM on July 16, 2015

nthing Va Hospital Center. The best!!
posted by mccxxiii at 10:59 AM on July 16, 2015

If not Virginia Hospital Center, try Fairfax Inova.
posted by easily confused at 11:32 AM on July 16, 2015

Seconding Fairfax Hospital. My daughter was born there and my wife spent a lot of time there much later and treatment was always first class.
posted by TheRaven at 11:39 AM on July 16, 2015

I've had surgery at both Inova Fairfax and Virginia Hospital Center and highly recommend both. My terminally ill grandmother passed away at Virginia Hospital Center and the staff was incredibly respectful and accommodating to us during a trying time.
posted by Gonestarfishing at 12:46 PM on July 16, 2015

I've had great experiences at both Inova Fairfax and Virginia Hospital Center.

Last August, someone close to me had a serious accident and spent a week in Fairfax in the trauma center. I was blown away at how well my loved one and his visitors were treated. He was given extremely high medical care, and his team did a great job of communicating of what they were doing and why they were doing it. They were great about answering our questions and allowing us to be there for him.

I've had great out patient experiences at Virginia Hospital Center. As a bonus, they are now affiliated with Mayo Clinic, which means that they can consult with some of the foremost experts in the world.
posted by emilynoa at 1:06 PM on July 16, 2015

Memail me if you like, because I'm in this area and different hospitals are good at different things. For example if you have a high-risk pregnancy I have heard really good things about Inova Fairfax. Reston is actually a great place to go if you need hip or knee surgery. I've gone to the Reston ER for minor stuff (stitches) and it was a good experience. I also had a good experience having a baby there.
posted by selfmedicating at 4:11 PM on July 16, 2015

I've been to all three hospitals suggested above for various surgeries or medical procedures (mine and family members). I hated Sibley, I had a terrible experience there (like they forgot me in the recovery room after a surgery and left me there for hours even though my husband asked for me several times and my room was ready for hours) and then I thought the nurses were terrible and uncaring. I actually switched OBs because I did not want to give birth to a child there based on that (unrelated) experience.

On the other hand, I love Virginia Hospital Center. We've been there for several things (emergency and non-emergency) and have always been treated kindly and no one has ever rushed us. Not even in the ER on a Friday night when they were swamped. Highly recommend them.

We've only been to the Pediatric ER at INOVA Fairfax, which doesn't help you, but it was wonderful and I would recommend them based on that experience.
posted by echo0720 at 6:31 PM on July 16, 2015

What you want is Hospital Compare. This will allow you to compare how hospitals perform on various quality measures - timely care, readmissions, deaths, complications, patient experience, etc. Obviously personal experience/references such as you find on Yelp will tell you some stuff, but this is scientifically valid information: http://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html
posted by john_snow at 8:32 AM on July 17, 2015 [1 favorite]