Severe emergency
In case of severe emergency, our ambulance will transport you in a such short time to our partner’s hospitals.
The Emergency Department can often be a very scary place for those who are not familiar with its operation. In order to help, we have developed the following pages to answer any questions you may have about your visit.
Professionals are here to help
The main goal of the Emergency Department is to help you feel better.
Triage
When you arrive, a registered nurse will conduct an initial exam, take your vital signs and complete a brief medical history. Triage helps them determine the severity of your emergency and allows them to take care of the most urgent cases right away. That's why someone who arrives after you may be treated before you. They work to see everyone as quickly as possible and we attend to the most critical needs first.
Upon entering the Emergency Room, you or a family member should be able to provide a list of your current allergies and medications (with dosages).
They require written permission from a parent for treatment of children under your care. They can provide you with permission slips to take home.
Registration
During registration, they will ask you to sign a treatment consent form and to provide your name, address, phone number, personal physician and insurance information.
Evaluation
Once you are in the treatment area, a physician will examine you and order any tests needed to evaluate your condition. Depending on the type of illness or injury, a nurse may start an IV or obtain a blood or urine sample, or you may undergo diagnostic tests, such as X-rays or a CT scan. Their goal is to keep you comfortable and conduct tests as quickly as possible. Some tests take longer to complete, and we appreciate your patience as we work to provide you with the most prompt, courteous, and comprehensive emergency care they can offer.
Treatment
Your treatment will depend on your physician's orders after the medical evaluation is complete. Their staff will keep you informed about what to expect during every part of the treatment process.
Admission or Discharge
Most patients are treated and discharged to go home from the emergency room. If you are admitted to the hospital, you will be transferred to a patient room and we will notify your primary care physician. If you do not have a physician, a physician on our staff – called a hospitalist — will coordinate your care while you're at the hospital.
If your emergency room physician determines you can go home, you will receive written instructions about how to take care of yourself after you leave the hospital. It is important to follow these instructions, take all prescribed medications and schedule a follow-up appointment with your personal physician. If you have questions about your discharge instructions, please ask your nurse.
Visitors
Family members of patients are important both to our patients and our staff.
To provide efficient emergency treatment and a safe environment, only one visitor may be with a patient at a time. (Two parents are allowed for minor children after the initial medical evaluation is completed.) When the ER is very busy, visitors may not be permitted (except for parents with children).
The emergency medical team will keep family members in the waiting area informed and up to date with the patient's condition and progress.
What you may see while in the emergency department.
Emergency Departments are stocked with a huge array of intricate and oddly shaped, beeping and blinking equipment. It all serves an important purpose
- Stethoscope
A stethoscope can be an incredibly useful diagnostic tool. It lets a nurse or doctor listen to heart and respiratory sounds. For example, stethoscopes are especially good at hearing a heart murmur, a sign of a possibly abnormal heart valve.
When listening to the lungs with a stethoscope, a doctor can diagnose diseases such as pneumonia, asthma, collapsed lungs or congestive heart failure.
A stethoscope also is used to take blood pressure. A nurse listens to the flow of blood through arteries.
- Cardiac Monitor
Cardiac monitors give a visual display of the heart rhythm. This can be very useful, particularly during a heart attack when a patient can suddenly develop a lethal cardiac rhythm. A patient is connected to the monitor by three sticky patches on the chest, attached to the monitor via wires. The monitors are set to alarm if the heart rate goes above or below a predetermined number.
- Suture Tray
This tray contains the sterile equipment needed to place stitches in a patient with a laceration. Equipment includes: a needle holder, forceps (used to hold the lacerated tissue), sterile towels (to drape off non sterile areas of the body), scissors, and small bowls (that hold antiseptic solutions).
- Orthopedic Equipment
Most emergency rooms have a generous number of orthopedic devices. These can include plaster and/or fiberglass materials to splint limbs that are fractured or severely injured. Pre-made splints for specific joints also can be found including knee immobilizers, finger splints, Velcro wrist splints, shoulder slings, air splints and cervical collars – not to mention cast cutters for when a cast has become too tight.
- Blood Pressure Monitor
One of the things that is checked upon a patient's entering the ER is their blood pressure. This monitor is used by nurses, usually the triage nurse, to check if the patient is suffering from high blood or low blood pressure. The nurse lists down the findings on a form that will also include other vital signs of the patient.
- Gurneys and Beds
There are many of these in the ER, and you can see patients either sitting or lying down on them. These beds have wheels, which enable technicians to take a patient straight to another part of the hospital (usually for tests, operations, or when they are to be transferred to their room) without having to move them to a wheelchair or other form of conveyance.
- Defibrillator
These are often used when a patient needs reviving, and are usually on stand-by in an ER. A defibrillator is just one of the many things that can be found in what is called a "crash cart," which is a cabinet that carries equipment and materials needed to take care of a patient that is going into cardiac arrest.
- Oxygen tanks and nasal cannulas
These are also seen in emergency rooms, and used on patients that may require some help in breathing. The oxygen tanks may be seen on trolleys that make these easy to roll over to a patient that needs it, or can be hidden and the nasal tubes and cannulas are attached to wall installations instead, which are usually found near the beds of the ER.
- EKG Machine
This is used to determine if the patient's heartbeat is normal or is irregular, as evidenced by the patterns that come out of this machine. These are usually portable machinery that is placed on a cart with wheels, and is used on patients who complain of chest pains, abdominal aches, and other symptoms that may suggest a heart ailment.
