Regarding Women and Healthcare Home

Memorial Medical Center Healthcare Choices Summer 2007

Minor Illness and Injuries Area
Will Decrease ER Wait Times and
Improve Service

A new “fast track” minor illness and injuries area for less serious emergency room (ER) visits will significantly improve wait times at Memorial Medical Center’s (MMC) busy emergency department.

As a result, the main emergency room at the Ludington Hospital will be able to focus on the more serious emergencies during peak hours, and service for all emergency patients can be improved. The new area will nearly double patient capacity, adding eight emergency beds to the 10 in the main ER.

“The basic issue is that we have an ER designed for 10,000 patient visits per year. Last year we treated 19,000 and this year we expect well over 21,000,” says Ruth Sommerfeldt, RN, emergency department director. “That has obvious consequences for wait times. We have continually adapted our processes to address this issue, but we’ve reached the point where additional space and beds are essential.”

“This new ‘fast track’ system is a major improvement for our patients,” adds Jan Sternberg, PhD, MS, BSN, vice president for patient services. “We want to make sure our excellent emergency team has the resources necessary to maintain the levels of service both we and our patients expect and deserve.”

The minor illness and injuries area will be open yearround. Initially, it will operate from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and hours will be reviewed as usage patterns are established. The new unit will be staffed by nurses, technicians, nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs), in consultation with the on-duty emergency physician.

The urgent care “fast track” will handle levels one and two ER visits. These are the least serious of the six levels used to define emergency cases. A few examples of levels one and two are minor cuts and burns, sprains, most fish hook injuries and animal bites, earaches, “pink eye,” stitches removal, viral infections, rashes, insect bites, and other minor injuries and illnesses that require treatment.

“Forty-two percent of our emergency patient volume is in levels one and two,” Sommerfeldt explains. “That’s 8,000 people a year.”

The term “fast track” means that minor injuries and illnesses will be identified quickly in the triage process and those patients will be routed quickly to the “fast track” area. This will allow ER staff to devote their time to more serious cases during the busiest times of the day.

This is the second initiative MMC has undertaken to alleviate the wait times imposed by large volumes of emergency patients. During summer weekends, the ambulatory surgery clinic has served as a minor illness and injury treatment area. However, a solution based on a dedicated space was needed to address wait times during peak hours year-round.

An interdisciplinary team was assembled to develop procedures to reduce the time needed for such ancillary services as lab tests and X-rays, and to further streamline processes for expediting care. They analyzed existing space as well as construction options, and concluded that the best option was to reallocate existing space to meet this critical need.