About Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven
Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven is highly regarded for its compassionate and dedicated care. Patients and their families often praise the staff, especially the nurses, for their kindness, attentiveness, and willingness to go above and beyond. Many reviewers highlight the exceptional care provided by the nurses on various floors, describing them as caring, loving, and attentive to their patients' needs, even making efforts to support family members visiting loved ones. Patients appreciate the follow-up care and the team’s efforts to make their experience as comfortable as possible, often feeling like family members themselves. The doctors, such as Dr. Ratner, receive high praise for their expertise and the outstanding quality of medical care. However, some reviews point out issues with the facility’s setup, mentioning confusing building layouts and lack of clear directions, which can make navigating the hospital challenging. There are also concerns about communication, particularly regarding patient discharges, with some family members feeling disappointed by inadequate notification and follow-up after discharge. Despite these frustrations, the overall impression remains positive, emphasizing the hospital’s commitment to patient-centered care and community health. The staff’s efforts to provide personalized attention, combined with the hospital’s innovative healthcare models, contribute to a reputation of excellence. Smilow Cancer Hospital continues to be a trusted place for cancer treatment, distinguished by its compassionate staff and high-quality medical services.
Yale is a great hospital, and Smilow Cancer Hospital has many outstanding doctors. My mom’s oncologist was amazing—compassionate, thorough, and had a clear treatment plan set up for her. We were told she likely had 6 months to a few years to live, and we felt hopeful and supported.
I’ve also had excellent neurologists at Yale for my epilepsy, so I know firsthand how strong some of the care teams are here.
That said, if you are planning surgery at Smilow, I would strongly caution you to avoid Dr. Kiran Turaga. His surgery didn’t work out. The feeding tube he placed failed almost immediately, and the complication that followed made my mom too weak...read full review
Found the Dr.’s to be wonderful, caring and friendly. HOWEVER, while spending the day with my friend who is hospitalized with late stage colon cancer, I found 2 of 3 of the nurses to be unfriendly, abrupt and impatient. One, even yelled at me and threatened to have me leave when I shut off a finished infusion pump that was loudly beeping, under the supervision of another Dr.(I am also a Dr. so this was a force of habit). Another was annoyed that we called twice for help with the bathroom and arrived angry and impatient when she finally did help my friend. Not the sort of healing environment or energy you hope for when your loved ones are hospitalized.
We were at Smilow today for a procedure.The staff is pleasant.However the set up of the building is poor.There is no one to direct you and there are four wings.Yale Guilford is much smaller and there is a staff person near the front entrance.Also when they tell you to be at a certain time,they tell you your procedure is delayed.Given their reputation we would expect them to be more patient friendly.We will only go there when we do not have another choice,