U.W. of Madison WI Hospital

I have been going to the U.W.hospital /clinic's since beginning of 1991, I believe it is one of the best Hospitals in Madison. I takes awhile to get use to the health system at this hospital they do strive to evaluate the medical history of the patient it has been with in the last 3 and a half years to understand the doctors policy of treating the person as a individual case not as a mass majority. I would recemend that you check it out for your self.
Just-Ducky

The staff were all kind and attentive.
I received the proper meals post surgery.
I had a private room with my own bathroom and shower.

The staff is excellent! I would never go to another hospital if I have a choice!

They took very good care of me. When I needed them they came to my aid. I had a lot of pain but they made sure that It stayed under a level of 3 or 4. I was very happy and good to be out of pain. I did have problems sleeping so I walked a lot at night. They just make you feel like they are there to help you all the time.

Wonderful care, nice private rooms

Caring and knowledgeable staff. Just named a Bariatric Center of Excellence

I would highly recommend this facility to anyone considering weight loss surgery in Madison, WI. There was nothing I would change about my stay. I could not think of a single thing to change that would have made my stay more tolerable and pleasant.

I felt well taken care of at the UW. They are building a couple of new rooms specifically for bariatric patients, so that will be good for those that come after me.
The only problem that I had concerned the food. I had a popscicle that was "no sugar added", which we know is not the same as "sugar free". I had my first incident of nausea after this popscicle, and it was bad enough to warrant immdiate medication.
The other problem was that on the morning of my release, I called down to order breakfast, snack and lunch, and explained that I would not be needing dinner as I was set to go home in the early afternoon. They brought breakfast, but the nurses must have called down and told them I would be leaving, so no further trays were brought up even though I did not leave until almost noon. So I went without any food from about 7:30 am until I arrived at home at 1:45 pm. Of course, by then, I was needing something, so I made a protein shake, and drank it WAY too fast, giving me my next episode of dumping. They need to understand that bariatric patients must be "fed" every couple of hours, and not cancel any trays until the patient has actually left the building.
Besides that, my experience was the best it could be considering it was a hospital stay.

It was fine. I was only there one night. Sleeping was difficult and there seemed to be a strange odor in the room, but it might have been my imagination.

They made a couple of mistakes that could have had devastating consequences. First, on my second day after surgery, they wanted to do a CAT to see if I was retaining water in my abdomen. The nurse came in with about 60 ounces of water with contrast that they wanted me to drink within an hour -- obviously, not possible! And I couldn't make them understand that it wouldn't "go right through me". Then, as it turned out, they didn't have a CAT machine big enough to accomodate me anyway!
Then they gave me a pain med that I have a documented (and serious) allergic reaction to; and finally brought me the wrong food tray more than once.

Add to that the fact that many of the nurses just didn't seem to know much about post-op gastric bypass patients and their needs/problems, and I have to say that my experience at UW Hospital was very disappointing and I can't recommend it for folks thinking of WLS. The surgeons are very capable and supportive, but many of the staff are just not as knowledgable as I believe they should be to deal with very heavy wls patients.