If you think you may be experiencing a medical emergency, immediately call your doctor or 911.
Triage
When you arrive in the ER, you will be assessed by the Triage nurse and placed in the first available exam room according to the severity of your illnesses or injuries.
Provider Exam
During your visit, you may be evaluated and treated by an Emergency Medicine physician, a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner. Physician assistants and nurse practitioners have advanced education and training to quickly evaluate, diagnose and treat patients. They are licensed and certified by the state and are under the direct supervision of the physician.
Pre-Treatment
After your assessment, the Triage nurse may begin testing to determine the severity of your condition. If you require laboratory testing like blood work and/or x-rays, your total waiting time will increase. We make every effort to keep you informed on estimated times for these reports.
We will work to get you in the first available exam room based on your condition. You may receive further assessment and treatment or if necessary, be admitted to the hospital. After your care is completed, your doctor and/or nurse will give you discharge instructions and medication prescriptions (if applicable).
Registration
Before you leave, we'll collect information for your medical record. It is our goal to offer you quality, compassionate care. We are staffed to handle all types of emergencies and illness. At times we experience delays from the lack of beds, obtaining test results, multiple ambulance arrivals of critically ill patients, or a cardiac arrest patient. If any of these occur, your waiting time may be increased, however, the quality of your care will not be affected.
Frequently Asked Questions
We follow a triage system. Triaging is a process that helps us rapidly and safely determine which patients need to be seen as a priority and which can safely wait for care. Several patients may arrive at the same time with varying severity of physical concerns. As you would expect, patients whose conditions are considered the most serious will be seen first.
What type of information will the Emergency Room require?
- Your name, age and date of birth
- Reason for your visit to the Emergency Room
- Your driver's license or other identification
This information is used to start setting up your hospital medical record.
Yes, you may have visitors with you. There are times when we may ask your visitors to remain in the reception area. These requests are made for your privacy as well as for the privacy of our other patients. We may also make this request during the times when members of our medical staff need to give you more care. Your visitors should feel free to ask a nurse about you whenever they feel anxious or concerned.
We work hard to serve everyone but we must prioritize and use our resources appropriately and effectively. The length of time you may spend in our Emergency Room depends on the following:
- How quickly you are seen by a doctor, which depends on the seriousness of your illness or injury.
- The types of tests you need in order for our medical staff to provide the best quality of care.
- How long it takes to get the results of the tests back.
Once your treatment is complete, the physician will prepare discharge paperwork so you can leave. Your nurse will give you written instructions on how to care for yourself when you get home, prescriptions if applicable and what follow-up treatment you may need.
You will only need to stay in the hospital if the doctors think you need more care, or if they want to keep an eye on you for a while. When this is the case, the Emergency Room staff will contact the Admitting Department to have a room assigned to you. How quickly you are taken to your room depends on the number of patients in the hospital. We will make every attempt to make you as comfortable as possible until your room is ready.