St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Centre opens new emergency unit
The St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Centre in Syracuse, New York, has opened a new emergency department.
The new emergency unit occupies a majority of the $80 million emergency services building of the hospital. The building encompasses three floor and also features a separate psychiatric emergency wing, an observation unit with 15 beds, and a computer data centre.
The department is segregated into three spaces including a speed zone, an immediate zone, and an acute zone. The speed zone will serve patients with minor problems which can take 30 minutes or less for treatment. The immediate zone will facilitate patients afflicted with problems which call for over 30 minutes treatment but not hospitalization. The acute zone will serve patients requiring life-saving measures.
The new emergency wing is three times more spacious compared to the old facility. It has been equipped with skylights as well as windows to offer optimum natural light penetration. The unit features 54 patient exam rooms, a cafe overlooking a park, 13 covered parking spaces for ambulances, and over 50 parking areas for patients and visitors. There are separate entryways for walk-in patients and patients arriving by ambulance in the new facility.
The emergency unit is also devoid of overhead pagers, or call bells. Instead, there is a call system which will buzz nurses on their mobile phones. Supplies like syringes and gauze are tracked by an automated system and stored near patient beds. In addition, the design of the department allows every patient exam room to be visible from a nursing station.
