UCLA's hype doesn't compare to Los Robles' care

Any visitor to the UCLA Hospital is constantly reminded that their hospital ranks as "Best in West" or "No. 5 in the nation." Don't believe the hype. I've been a patient in these two hospitals, and, based on that experience, Los Robles is an infinitely superior facility. Let me elaborate.

Most patients enter a hospital through the emergency room. UCLA's emergency consulting rooms have no monitoring equipment, so a patient is moved into a crowded and noisy holding area. Burdened with a philosophy of practicing team medicine, the same information is extracted from the patient by a number of attending physicians/nurses. By contrast, Los Robles has private rooms for all ER patients, with closing doors and monitoring equipment. There is no repetitive questioning.

The nurses at UCLA lack the human skills required of caregivers. Medical care by the attending doctors is laced with confusion and second-guessing. One doctor will tell you something, only to learn from another doctor that the advice you got from the first doctor was wrong. This confusion seriously affects the treatment you get and leaves you in a state of limbo.

Monitoring at UCLA involved a heavy cardiovascular device that beeped incessantly. By contrast, Los Robles placed a telemetric monitoring device in my gown pocket, which communicated its readings to the nurses' monitoring station--hence no beeping sound in my room.

For the five days at UCLA, I was not bathed even once, whereas I had a body bath daily at Los Robles.

UCLA is plagued with traffic congestion, limited parking and high parking fees.

By contrast, traffic is light in traveling to Los Robles, and there is unlimited free parking.

The point I want to make is this: avoid the hype and be suspicious of ratings. Get to know how a good hospital operates, and if you hear about the value of "team practice," avoid the place like a plague.
John Buckley
Malibu