New ER may mean faster, better, safer care at Parkland
Open House Wednesday showcases emergency department
By DONNA HICKMAN
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
FARMINGTON — Doctors in white coats will soon replace workers in hard hats inside the new Emergency Department at Parkland Health Center. The public will get its first look at the $5 million facility during an open house from 4 - 7 p.m. Wednesday. A ribbon cutting will be held at 4:15 p.m.
The facility is expected to accept its first patients about 6 a.m. Sept. 3.
“We’ll have to keep both E.R.s open as we move into the new one,” explained Patsy Coleman, Emergency Department Manager. “We won’t start to move the equipment into the new one until a few hours before we open it.”
Parkland broke ground on the new facility in October of last year. At 9,650 square feet, it’s twice the size of the old E.R. which had a total of 17,626 visits in 2007. The new E.R. has 16 examination rooms that are bigger than the 13 rooms in the old one — some of the old rooms had been closets. The new exam rooms include special rooms for specific needs such as a room designed for treating psychiatric patients, one for victims of sexual assault and one for those who might have been victims of chemical or biological contamination.
“I think what this new E.R. says to the community is we are committed long term to state-of-the art emergency preparedness and we continue to invest in the community for the long term,” said Tom Karl, Parkland’s Assistant Administrator.
Patient Care Services Assistant Administrator Kathy Hight said the hospital listened to the community who told them they’d like to spend less time in the E.R. So, there are more treatment rooms and a larger staff.
“The average time a patient is in the E.R. is three hours,” said Medical Director Dr. John Hunt, adding that’s from the time the patient is first seen until he or she is discharged. “I think with the new E.R. things will go faster. There are more exam rooms. We will have improved monitoring and better equipment. I won’t say there are more things we can do in the E.R., I’ll just say we can do them better.”
Hunt is in his 11th year at Parkland’s E.R. He says they’re treating the same basic illnesses and injuries, but they’re seeing more patients with mental health problems. And while the number of emergency rooms nationwide has increased, Hunt says the number of patients being seen in ERs has also been on the increase. He believes lack of health insurance and doctors whose offices are at capacity make a hospital emergency room the last resort for some.
“Access to medicine in general is tougher now,” he said.
Security will be tighter in the new Emergency Room. Coleman said the entire treatment area will be kept locked and those who want to visit patients will have to notify staff to be allowed in the treatment area. Privacy will also be more closely guarded with large walls surrounding the cubicle area where doctors may discuss their cases.
Coleman said the people who work in the emergency room had a hand in planning the new one.
There are carts of supplies that will be shuttled from room to room as needed. One is outfitted for wound care. Another will have supplies for treating ear, nose and throat conditions. Another cart will have supplies for central lines and chest tubes. Another will have all the equipment needed to deliver a baby.
The staff also chose the colors. Sage green is used in every area of the E.R. for everything from the chairs in the waiting room to the walls of the exam rooms. They believe it is a calming color.
There are two entrances to this E.R. One is for those who come by ambulance and the other is for those who come by personal vehicle. Each patient is assessed using a five category triage system with “5” being non-emergency cases and “1” being the cases that are deemed to be life or death situations.
There’s even a break room for EMS crews to use between calls and a triage consultant room for families in crisis to meet with the chaplain. The new E.R. is located at the main entrance to the hospital off Liberty Street and was built adjacent to the Huckstep Center. Karl said a new parking lot with more spaces has made up for the spaces lost in construction.
Six new nurses will be added to the staff of 28 currently in the E.R. A doctor is available 24 hours a day and additional physicians are on staff during peak times. Hunt said the busiest times are often from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., 5-7 p.m. and 10-11 p.m. The ER most often treats victims of accidents, people with respiratory illnesses and people with urinary tract infections.
The old emergency room will be turned into a gymnasium for therapy services and cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. A new obstetrics wing opened at the hospital in February. As originally designed, this new campus plan will eventually include an additional medical office building, a second heliport close to the new emergency department, an outer road which will provide secondary access to the campus and several internal renovation projects and major equipment additions. At the time they broke ground for the E.R., Parkland President Rick Conklin said the plan would represent a $30 million investment over two years.
Parkland’s emergency department serves as a teaching facility for Mineral Area College’s EMT, paramedic, nurse practitioner, LPN, and RN students. Parkland has another emergency department in Bonne Terre, staffed 24 hours a day.
Parkland Health Center is part of BJC HealthCare and is affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Donna Hickman is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact her at 431-2010, ext. 138 or at dhickman@dailyjournalonline.com.
The facility is expected to accept its first patients about 6 a.m. Sept. 3.
“We’ll have to keep both E.R.s open as we move into the new one,” explained Patsy Coleman, Emergency Department Manager. “We won’t start to move the equipment into the new one until a few hours before we open it.”
Parkland broke ground on the new facility in October of last year. At 9,650 square feet, it’s twice the size of the old E.R. which had a total of 17,626 visits in 2007. The new E.R. has 16 examination rooms that are bigger than the 13 rooms in the old one — some of the old rooms had been closets. The new exam rooms include special rooms for specific needs such as a room designed for treating psychiatric patients, one for victims of sexual assault and one for those who might have been victims of chemical or biological contamination.
“I think what this new E.R. says to the community is we are committed long term to state-of-the art emergency preparedness and we continue to invest in the community for the long term,” said Tom Karl, Parkland’s Assistant Administrator.
Patient Care Services Assistant Administrator Kathy Hight said the hospital listened to the community who told them they’d like to spend less time in the E.R. So, there are more treatment rooms and a larger staff.
“The average time a patient is in the E.R. is three hours,” said Medical Director Dr. John Hunt, adding that’s from the time the patient is first seen until he or she is discharged. “I think with the new E.R. things will go faster. There are more exam rooms. We will have improved monitoring and better equipment. I won’t say there are more things we can do in the E.R., I’ll just say we can do them better.”
Hunt is in his 11th year at Parkland’s E.R. He says they’re treating the same basic illnesses and injuries, but they’re seeing more patients with mental health problems. And while the number of emergency rooms nationwide has increased, Hunt says the number of patients being seen in ERs has also been on the increase. He believes lack of health insurance and doctors whose offices are at capacity make a hospital emergency room the last resort for some.
“Access to medicine in general is tougher now,” he said.
Security will be tighter in the new Emergency Room. Coleman said the entire treatment area will be kept locked and those who want to visit patients will have to notify staff to be allowed in the treatment area. Privacy will also be more closely guarded with large walls surrounding the cubicle area where doctors may discuss their cases.
Coleman said the people who work in the emergency room had a hand in planning the new one.
There are carts of supplies that will be shuttled from room to room as needed. One is outfitted for wound care. Another will have supplies for treating ear, nose and throat conditions. Another cart will have supplies for central lines and chest tubes. Another will have all the equipment needed to deliver a baby.
The staff also chose the colors. Sage green is used in every area of the E.R. for everything from the chairs in the waiting room to the walls of the exam rooms. They believe it is a calming color.
There are two entrances to this E.R. One is for those who come by ambulance and the other is for those who come by personal vehicle. Each patient is assessed using a five category triage system with “5” being non-emergency cases and “1” being the cases that are deemed to be life or death situations.
There’s even a break room for EMS crews to use between calls and a triage consultant room for families in crisis to meet with the chaplain. The new E.R. is located at the main entrance to the hospital off Liberty Street and was built adjacent to the Huckstep Center. Karl said a new parking lot with more spaces has made up for the spaces lost in construction.
Six new nurses will be added to the staff of 28 currently in the E.R. A doctor is available 24 hours a day and additional physicians are on staff during peak times. Hunt said the busiest times are often from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., 5-7 p.m. and 10-11 p.m. The ER most often treats victims of accidents, people with respiratory illnesses and people with urinary tract infections.
The old emergency room will be turned into a gymnasium for therapy services and cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation. A new obstetrics wing opened at the hospital in February. As originally designed, this new campus plan will eventually include an additional medical office building, a second heliport close to the new emergency department, an outer road which will provide secondary access to the campus and several internal renovation projects and major equipment additions. At the time they broke ground for the E.R., Parkland President Rick Conklin said the plan would represent a $30 million investment over two years.
Parkland’s emergency department serves as a teaching facility for Mineral Area College’s EMT, paramedic, nurse practitioner, LPN, and RN students. Parkland has another emergency department in Bonne Terre, staffed 24 hours a day.
Parkland Health Center is part of BJC HealthCare and is affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Donna Hickman is a reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact her at 431-2010, ext. 138 or at dhickman@dailyjournalonline.com.
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