Madison Memorial Hospital: Emergency Department | Madisonhealth - Rexburg, Idaho

Lauren F.

If you ask anyone in town, you'll hear the same thing: do NOT go to this hospital.
So here's how we ended up here: I'm 7 months pregnant, and my husband and I noticed that I had a higher than normal resting heart rate that was worrisome to us. My OB and delivering hospital is in Idaho Falls (because I refuse to give birth here), but because it was early on a Sunday morning and we were worried, we opted to just go to the Madison hospital, thinking a quick check and confirmation from a professional couldn't be bad (spoiler, it was).
Having made an ER visit to my delivering hospital, I have much to compare in contrast:
First, we showed up, had to convince the lady at the desk about my symptoms, then wait in an empty waiting room for about 10-15 minutes before we were taken back (in Idaho Falls, we were taken back as soon as I explained my symptoms. No convincing necessary).
Being hooked up to a machine to monitor my heart rate, the nurse told me they'd have to take blood samples. I've never EVER had an issue with nurses finding my veins, but this nurse could not for the life of her figure it out. The pain from her digging around in my arm was so bad that I started to pass out.
Upon warning her twice how I was feeling, my husband tried to warn her too, but she made no comment and continued to dig into my arm.
My husband had to watch, horrified as she continued to dig and my face went pale, my heart rate dropped, and I teetered between blacking out and fighting to stay awake (in Idaho Falls, as soon as I started to feel a little faint from getting blood drawn, the nurse stopped immediately and was extremely attentive to what I needed to be able to relax and come out of it).
A second nurse, a man this time, apparently entered the room while this was happening. He took a seat beside the nurse, who was STILL trying to get into my arm and asked me a question. Because I was passing out, I didn't respond. He tapped my leg to get me to look at him, and I think I gave a satisfactory answer as he then gestured for the first nurse to step back, and took over for taking my blood sample. Again, no one except my horrified and deeply concerned husband noticing that I was alarmingly pale, uncomfortable, and struggling to stay attentive.
Luckily, this nurse could figure out how to take blood samples. By God's grace, I started to come out of passing out as he worked.
This is when lady nurse decided to check on our baby, again struggling to achieve her goal. Despite my attempts to let her know where my OB typically gets a good heart rate and where our baby was moving around, she continued to ignore what I had to say and even got visibly frustrated.
After a good amount of time wasted on this, she passed the doppler off to the male nurse, who clarified what I had said to lady nurse, and immediately found a clear heart rate from our baby by actually listening to the instruction I had given.
After this whole traumatizing ordeal was over, I was told it was going to take an hour for them to test my blood. Halfway through waiting, lady nurse came back and said she needed another sample of blood. Successfully doing something this time, she left, saying it was going to take longer because she had to take another sample.
Over two hours later, a doctor came in to tell us that: "Even if it is your first baby, you should call your OB first instead of wasting time coming into the ER." 😐
He continued to repeat this as we tried to talk to him. We both felt stupid for just trying to get help.
After his visit, we waited up to another 30 minutes for him to come in again to remind us that we shouldn't have come in, and then waited another 30 minutes to get released (to which lady nurse returned to lovingly rip off the heart monitor stickers 🫠).
Bruised, light-headed, in pain, and traumatized, we spent 3 hours to be told we were stupid to even bother coming in (in Idaho Falls, they had us in and out in an hour and a half, were kind, reassuring, attentive, and didn't make us feel stupid for showing up).
So, long story short, do NOT go to this hospital:)

Thuy A. M.

I can't praise the exceptional service we received enough. They delivered amazing care for my son, who had an accident when the razor he was on flipped over. Our entire experience was absolutely phenomenal. While I hope we never have to return to an emergency room in Idaho, the compassionate care we received here made a potentially traumatic situation much more bearable.

Brookelynn P.

I have never had such a terrible experience with medical providers, I would never go back to Madison Memorial again. My husband had a severe seizure and was taken in an ambulance to the ER, upon arriving, they made sure I signed all of the paperwork saying that we were liable for the bill. When they allowed me to go to the back to see my husband, there was no one in the room to explain to us what was going on, (my husband was unable to remember anything that happened), I sat in the room for a while before going to find a provider to come explain to us what was going on, when I left all of the staff were sitting together laughing and chatting and were very annoyed that I interrupted. My husband asked for blanket and some water, to which the nurse said she would bring it and never did. The doctor took no more than 2 minutes to explain to us that he had no idea what was going on and we'd have to figure it out with a specialist and was extremely rude in letting us know that it was not his problem as an ER doctor. When they released us, they gave us a packet informing us again about the bill and didn't explain any instructions we should take moving forward. This was quite honestly the rudest and most unprofessional medical care I have ever seen in my life.

KONNECTINGWITHKYLIE

These medical “professionals “ do not care about you. Don’t waste time going here. Disgusted by the level of treatment and the similar treatment of so many others who have experienced the same kind of ABUSE. First off, the male nurse I saw gave me a butterfly IV (the easiest one to do by the way) blew my veins twice (I’m well hydrated this should have been easy) I had to strap the tourniquet tighter for him because of the level of incompetence. I myself am a former phlebotomist and wearing GLOVES and performing butterfly IV and blood draws are day ONE BASICS!!! Why he felt the need to not wear gloves is beyond me and is HAZARDOUS!! ⚠️

Next we go to the ER “Doctor “ if you can call him that. I’m not sure what era he lived in whilst going through medical school but apparently you cannot feel a pancreas through the abdominal wall when it is enlarged. (My PA in fact did this test and felt that it was inflamed) I knew that statement was false and to be sure of myself and my PA I in fact googled the information and cited many medical sources to gain the correct answer… you can indeed feel a pancreas that is enlarged through the abdominal wall via palpation provided you are well educated, and know what you are looking for.

I then heard him and his LOOOVEELLY staff members giggling about how misinformed I AM!! Yet our poor, poor Neanderthal brains couldn’t even keep up with Dr. Google and its many medical professional sources… He then proceeded to tell me that he would not be waking his ultrasound tech for this but would check my labs. (I never asked him to wake anyone.) Keep in mind it is possible to have clear urine and blood labs and still have pancreatitis in its early stages. Not that he would know this or he would have simply outsourced the issue to CT and done a contrast CT to be sure. But why would we care for our patients when we could turn their health concerns into a joke at the nurses station right? Safe to say I will be contacting their corporate office and reporting the foul, contemptible behavior from this facility. Shame on all of you for taking an oath to protect the general public health and not follow through. Wages should be cut for poor performance in this field.

Traci M.

I loved the care my brother has received each time he has been taken to Madison Memorial ED for seizures. The nurses were caring and explained easy procedure. My brother has special needs and the staff treated him with compassion and helped him understand what was happening. The doctors ensured our questions were answered and follow-ups scheduled. Way to go Madison!

Alyssa B.

Madison Memorial ER is the best! I felt heard by the staff and all of my labs and scans were done in a timely manner. They were busy but the nurses still found time to check on me and make sure I had warm blankets. The doctors are so nice and smart! Thank you Madison Memorial Emergency room

Vinícius S. T.

Im never coming back. Poor communication, they gave me an empty work letter, and when they filled out had typos and did not reflect my situation. They didn’t help at all and charged me for that. Stupid place

Renee C.

My experience was great thanks to the attentive care of nurses!
I do not remember her name, but this student nurse was the best I've ever had. Thanks to her, I was able to have calm through helping me have as much physical comfort as I could despite my pain, and telling corny jokes. She answered all my questions. She also did all my care. Torn shoulder tendons and a slipped disk are really not fun, but she helped a lot.
I waited a long time for the doctor to come in and talk to me for almost a minute and leave without giving me much of an opening for questions or requests. That was all left to the nurse after he left. It could also be due to my x-rays looking normal because my shoulder slid back into place while I was waiting. Thanks to the nurses, I was able to relax, so when I carefully adjusted myself, it slipped back in. Seriously, I was crying from fear and frustration and pain before going in, but the nurse was able to calm me enough to almost fall asleep while I waited!

Lauren F.

If you ask anyone in town, you'll hear the same thing: do NOT go to this hospital.
So here's how we ended up here: I'm 7 months pregnant, and my husband and I noticed that I had a higher than normal resting heart rate that was worrisome to us. My OB and delivering hospital is in Idaho Falls (because I refuse to give birth here), but because it was early on a Sunday morning and we were worried, we opted to just go to the Madison hospital, thinking a quick check and confirmation from a professional couldn't be bad (spoiler, it was).
Having made an ER visit to my delivering hospital, I have much to compare in contrast:
First, we showed up, had to convince the lady at the desk about my symptoms, then wait in an empty waiting room for about 10-15 minutes before we were taken back (in Idaho Falls, we were taken back as soon as I explained my symptoms. No convincing necessary).
Being hooked up to a machine to monitor my heart rate, the nurse told me they'd have to take blood samples. I've never EVER had an issue with nurses finding my veins, but this nurse could not for the life of her figure it out. The pain from her digging around in my arm was so bad that I started to pass out.
Upon warning her twice how I was feeling, my husband tried to warn her too, but she made no comment and continued to dig into my arm.
My husband had to watch, horrified as she continued to dig and my face went pale, my heart rate dropped, and I teetered between blacking out and fighting to stay awake (in Idaho Falls, as soon as I started to feel a little faint from getting blood drawn, the nurse stopped immediately and was extremely attentive to what I needed to be able to relax and come out of it).
A second nurse, a man this time, apparently entered the room while this was happening. He took a seat beside the nurse, who was STILL trying to get into my arm and asked me a question. Because I was passing out, I didn't respond. He tapped my leg to get me to look at him, and I think I gave a satisfactory answer as he then gestured for the first nurse to step back, and took over for taking my blood sample. Again, no one except my horrified and deeply concerned husband noticing that I was alarmingly pale, uncomfortable, and struggling to stay attentive.
Luckily, this nurse could figure out how to take blood samples. By God's grace, I started to come out of passing out as he worked.
This is when lady nurse decided to check on our baby, again struggling to achieve her goal. Despite my attempts to let her know where my OB typically gets a good heart rate and where our baby was moving around, she continued to ignore what I had to say and even got visibly frustrated.
After a good amount of time wasted on this, she passed the doppler off to the male nurse, who clarified what I had said to lady nurse, and immediately found a clear heart rate from our baby by actually listening to the instruction I had given.
After this whole traumatizing ordeal was over, I was told it was going to take an hour for them to test my blood. Halfway through waiting, lady nurse came back and said she needed another sample of blood. Successfully doing something this time, she left, saying it was going to take longer because she had to take another sample.
Over two hours later, a doctor came in to tell us that: "Even if it is your first baby, you should call your OB first instead of wasting time coming into the ER." 😐
He continued to repeat this as we tried to talk to him. We both felt stupid for just trying to get help.
After his visit, we waited up to another 30 minutes for him to come in again to remind us that we shouldn't have come in, and then waited another 30 minutes to get released (to which lady nurse returned to lovingly rip off the heart monitor stickers 🫠).
Bruised, light-headed, in pain, and traumatized, we spent 3 hours to be told we were stupid to even bother coming in (in Idaho Falls, they had us in and out in an hour and a half, were kind, reassuring, attentive, and didn't make us feel stupid for showing up).
So, long story short, do NOT go to this hospital:)

Thuy A. M.

I can't praise the exceptional service we received enough. They delivered amazing care for my son, who had an accident when the razor he was on flipped over. Our entire experience was absolutely phenomenal. While I hope we never have to return to an emergency room in Idaho, the compassionate care we received here made a potentially traumatic situation much more bearable.

Brookelynn P.

I have never had such a terrible experience with medical providers, I would never go back to Madison Memorial again. My husband had a severe seizure and was taken in an ambulance to the ER, upon arriving, they made sure I signed all of the paperwork saying that we were liable for the bill. When they allowed me to go to the back to see my husband, there was no one in the room to explain to us what was going on, (my husband was unable to remember anything that happened), I sat in the room for a while before going to find a provider to come explain to us what was going on, when I left all of the staff were sitting together laughing and chatting and were very annoyed that I interrupted. My husband asked for blanket and some water, to which the nurse said she would bring it and never did. The doctor took no more than 2 minutes to explain to us that he had no idea what was going on and we'd have to figure it out with a specialist and was extremely rude in letting us know that it was not his problem as an ER doctor. When they released us, they gave us a packet informing us again about the bill and didn't explain any instructions we should take moving forward. This was quite honestly the rudest and most unprofessional medical care I have ever seen in my life.

KONNECTINGWITHKYLIE

These medical “professionals “ do not care about you. Don’t waste time going here. Disgusted by the level of treatment and the similar treatment of so many others who have experienced the same kind of ABUSE. First off, the male nurse I saw gave me a butterfly IV (the easiest one to do by the way) blew my veins twice (I’m well hydrated this should have been easy) I had to strap the tourniquet tighter for him because of the level of incompetence. I myself am a former phlebotomist and wearing GLOVES and performing butterfly IV and blood draws are day ONE BASICS!!! Why he felt the need to not wear gloves is beyond me and is HAZARDOUS!! ⚠️

Next we go to the ER “Doctor “ if you can call him that. I’m not sure what era he lived in whilst going through medical school but apparently you cannot feel a pancreas through the abdominal wall when it is enlarged. (My PA in fact did this test and felt that it was inflamed) I knew that statement was false and to be sure of myself and my PA I in fact googled the information and cited many medical sources to gain the correct answer… you can indeed feel a pancreas that is enlarged through the abdominal wall via palpation provided you are well educated, and know what you are looking for.

I then heard him and his LOOOVEELLY staff members giggling about how misinformed I AM!! Yet our poor, poor Neanderthal brains couldn’t even keep up with Dr. Google and its many medical professional sources… He then proceeded to tell me that he would not be waking his ultrasound tech for this but would check my labs. (I never asked him to wake anyone.) Keep in mind it is possible to have clear urine and blood labs and still have pancreatitis in its early stages. Not that he would know this or he would have simply outsourced the issue to CT and done a contrast CT to be sure. But why would we care for our patients when we could turn their health concerns into a joke at the nurses station right? Safe to say I will be contacting their corporate office and reporting the foul, contemptible behavior from this facility. Shame on all of you for taking an oath to protect the general public health and not follow through. Wages should be cut for poor performance in this field.

Traci M.

I loved the care my brother has received each time he has been taken to Madison Memorial ED for seizures. The nurses were caring and explained easy procedure. My brother has special needs and the staff treated him with compassion and helped him understand what was happening. The doctors ensured our questions were answered and follow-ups scheduled. Way to go Madison!