The region’s most qualified and comprehensive emergency care gets even better tomorrow at 7 a.m., when the new Emergency Department at Cabell Huntington Hospital opens to patients.
As part of the $85 million North Patient Tower project on the hospital’s campus, the new, state-of-the art Emergency/Level II Trauma Department was designed with patient comfort at the forefront by adding attractive waiting areas and larger, better equipped exam and trauma rooms.
“This new facility only adds to our ability to take care of the sickest of sick patients. We now have better equipment to do the job we’ve been doing for years,” said Dr. David Hinchman, medical director for Emergency Services at Cabell Huntington Hospital.
Patients who enter the new Emergency Department at Cabell Huntington Hospital will be immediately impressed by the new, patient-friendly environment created to ease the stress and anxiety that often goes along with an emergency visit.
The changes begin with the drive up to the Emergency Department; as the former 13 ½ Alley just off Hal Greer Boulevard has been renamed Hospital Avenue. An easy-to-spot emergency entrance directs patients to a convenient drop-off point just a few steps from the Emergency Department doors. Covered and convenient parking areas have also been added.
Inside, a bright and comforting environment offers twice the space of Cabell Huntington Hospital’s former Emergency Department waiting area. New sitting areas with tables, couches and comfortable seating are among the most impressive additions. Restrooms, vending machines and flat panel televisions are also among the amenities. A new security area also provides additional comfort and safety for the round-the-clock atmosphere that comes with an emergency department.
Once inside the patient care area, the exam rooms and trauma rooms are more spacious and technologically advanced than those they are replacing.More than 55,000 patients seek treatment in Cabell Huntington Hospital’s Emergency Department, and this addition will help accommodate them while enhancing their level of care.
For the less critical, non-emergency injuries or illnesses, ImmediateCare exam rooms and a separate waiting area help reduce the amount of time patients wait to see a physician.
“Our goal is to have the wait time as short as possible,” Hinchman said.
Because time is so critical and valuable while treating emergency patients, the new Emergency Department also was designed to give emergency medical personnel faster access to the trauma area of the Emergency Department. A separate entrance and parking area has been created for ambulances so there is direct access for patients arriving in emergency vehicles.
Electronic Medical Records
A glimpse into the future of health care is also offered in the new Emergency Department as physicians, nurses and staff use a state-of-the art medical records system that means patient treatment will be recorded without using paper or hand-written orders and instructions.
Hinchman said the paperless medical records system will create an instant link for physicians between patients and their records. The system will be updated instantly and allow physicians, nurses and staff to have the most current patient information at their fingertips.
“The advantage of having completely electronic medical records is tremendous,” Hinchman said. “We’re now doing the same job but documenting it better.”
The electronic medical records system has numerous immediate benefits for patients, Hinchman said. For example, doctors can share records using computer information and images. A physician seeing a patient in the Emergency Department can consult with a physician at home using secure computers that update information instantly.
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