“We always had a wish list at our old facility of things that did not work like we wanted them to. But here, we had a chance to plan from day one,” said Dr. Sean Smith, Mercy Emergancy Department.
Dr. Sean Smith says it starts with the exam rooms themselves.
“Set up to do everything from all the cardiac monitoring, the invasive blood pressure monitoring, central lines, ability to get X-rays in the room,” said Dr. Smith.
Electronic medical records mean doctors won’t have to wait on results to start treatment, and the testing itself is more convenient. X-rays, CAT scans, and the cath lab are just a few feet away.
“So patients with heart attack, we don’t have to transfer up three stairs, you know, or up the elevator to get those patients to the cath lab. We can cut down on that transport time to close that window to get that life saving treatment by having that cath lab right adjacent to the emergency department,” he said.
When the emergency is a hazardous materials spill or industrial accident, there’s a permanent decontamination shower that can handle a few patients. And just a few minutes of prep time can multiply that several times over.
“Here we’ve have it set up where we could take care of 10’s or 100’s. We have several additional very large showers that can be operated within minutes at the ambulance entrance to the hospital that have large curtains that open up out of the columns attached to the ceiling,” said Dr. Smith.
Exam rooms are also layered so that more minor cases can get in and out without having to cut through critical care areas. It sits on the northwest side of the complex.
