Niswonger Children’s Hospital: Emergency Room 400 North State of Franklin Road, Johnson City, TN 37604

"We were visiting from Greenville SC and my special needs son ended up with food stuck in his esophagus. He couldn't swallow any of his own secretions, was gagging intermittently and was in pain. When we arrived we checked in and were taken back by a nurse, I assume. She didnt introduce herself and didn't ask my sons name or date of birth. We were put in a room and seen by a resident followed by an attending. Another nurse came in, who didn't introduce herself to give my son medication. She didn't ask for name or date of birth either. No one ever asked if my son was in pain, I had to address it. The medication didn't work so the resident was calling the surgeon who wanted is to try another dose of medication to see if it would work. It did not. At this point we were already here about 3-4 hours. The resident then said we were getting set up to go to thr OR which is what happened in the past when this occurred. We waited another 2 hours at which point another ER came in to tell us that we were going to have to wait until 6 in the morning to go to thr OR because they didn't want to have to call the OR in. The only reason he even came in was because I had to go out to the desk to ask the nurses because no one ever came in to talk/check on us for over 2 hours. I explained to the doctor that this was unacceptable to make a child suffer like this for another 6 hours and he said he would relay the message. He never returned to our room. I had to go back out to the desk where a nursing supervisor was and she was at least able to speed up the process of at least getting us admitted but alas we were not going to thr OR. The hospitalist and family medicine resident were amazing. I have never been so disappointed in an ER in my life. Once we were admitted we received great care from nursing, pre-op, and the GI doctor but the ER should be ashamed at the way they treated my son. We were there over 14 hours waiting to have a 5 min procedure. My son didn't sleep all night because he was spitting and gagging every 5 min. We got to the hospital at 6:40pm and he didn't have surgery until 7:30am the following morning. We understand it wasn't emergent but it was certainly urgent. I will avoid that ER at all costs unless absolutely necessary when we are staying in town."

"Daughter had a fever seizure and didn’t even react to the fact that yet again , her second one in a 6 month span , had also lasted 20 minutes long. They swabbed her nose and never even told me what they tested her for. Just the things that showed positive. I took her back up there 2 days later, as her doctor was closed, due to her eczema breaking out terribly. They examined her , sent the doctor in. He looked at her rash, listened to her chest and walked out. The next person I seen was a nurse handing me my discharge papers. TERRIBLE EXPERINCE! WILL NEVER RETURN! I wanted at least a “there’s nothing we can do”. I didn’t even get that !"

"After having our concerns dismissed at East TN Children’s Hospital while being admitted for 3 days and discharged without proper treatment, we went to Johnson City Children’s ER where my son was treated promptly and transferred to a facility that had the service my son needed. Dr. Seth Brown is absolutely phenomenal and one of the kindest doctors I have ever met. Big thanks to him and the wonderful ER staff for getting the ball rolling so my son could get the care he needed. We appreciate you guys!"

"Had a wonderful experience here. My kid split her eye open in a fall. They were wonderful with her. Numbered the area with gel so she didn’t have to have a shot. Then gave her some meds to make her relaxed. The split was all the way onto her eyelid. They did a great job. She didn’t even need to be held down. She was conscious and happy almost the whole time. Even said “Thank You, Doctor!” On her own. Thank you"

"There needs to be additional stars. These folks were awesome! My daughter was sent by urgent care to ER for appendicitis symptoms. We went to another ER initially, because it was closer, but after waiting 5 hours to be seen, we left came to Niswonger. Great Staff, while finishing up the check in process they were calling her back already. Friendly, very kid-friendly staff! Will definitely make the drive in the event we ever need another ER."