Those seeking care in the emergency department at Bradford
Regional Medical Center will receive the same medical treatment,
but will follow a different path to get there.
Starting Friday, the triage and registration areas will be
located where the HeartStrings Gift shop used to be in the lobby
off Interstate Parkway.
“We physically moved the triage and registration areas,” said
Diane Irwin, RN, BS, CLNC, director of nursing. “We physically
separated them from the main emergency room.”
The move of the emergency department’s waiting room, as well as
the triage and registration areas, was necessary to allow for the
renovation work to continue.
This will be the temporary home of the ED registration and
triage areas for about 10 weeks, said Norm Strotman, assistant
director of plant services. There will be signs in place to help
direct visitors to the new area.
This is Phase III of a four-part renovation project BRMC is
undergoing. The expansion and renovation of the Emergency
Department, along with redesigning Surgical Services and adding two
surgical suites for future use, costs ,3.5 million.
The first phase involved building the ,15 million,
65,000-square-foot Outpatient Services Center that opened early
last year.
Patients will be directed to the new area on the left once they
walk through the entrance and through a waiting room where they can
register.
The person is then taken to the triage area, where the patient
is assessed and sorted to ensure those who need immediate attention
receive it.
Once a person is taken from the triage area to the emergency
department, bedside registration will be done by staff members.
Even the temporary area is bigger than what the staff has been
working in.
“The triage area is bigger than what we have now,” Price
said.
The emergency department receives about 17,000 visitors each
year.
“This is a new process for us and for the patient, where we come
to the patient’s room to get needed registration information,”
Irwin said. “We feel this added service will decrease the amount of
time our patients and families have to move from area to area.”
Moving patients quickly and efficiently into the system is
important.
“We want to quickly and efficiently pull people into the system
and get them where they need to be. BRMC’s primary objective is to
get people to flow through the system and reduce their wait time,”
Irwin said.
Even though the staff in these new areas are sequestered from
the rest of the ED staff, it doesn’t mean there isn’t help nearby
if needed.
Irwin said employees in those areas will be equipped with radios
dedicated to ED and security. If they need help, all they will have
to do is push a button and say so, she said.
Another avenue to help with this separation will be the hiring
of liaisons to work in the new area.
Irwin – calling these people air traffic controllers – said
these workers will also have clinical experience and can help
medically if needed. They can also pre-register the patients to get
them in the computer system quickly so they can be treated as soon
as possible.
“We are real excited to begin those positions,” said Deborah
Price, senior vice president of patient care services. Price added
that this will also help everyone keep informed in what’s happening
in the other areas.
“They will communicate, direct and assist,” added Ann Kazmarek,
RN, nurse manager for the emergency department.
Other changes include a window where the donor wall is to
provide communication with people in the main ED space. There will
also be security doors to limit who passes through. Visitors will
receive a security pass so officials know who is coming and
going.
The waiting room will also have a vending area, restrooms and an
area for children.
Visitors to BRMC are used to seeing the waiting area to the
right when entering the Interstate Parkway doors. That area will be
sealed off by a wall to block off the renovation work that will
happen there.
“That waiting area is gone,” Kazmarek said.
The ambulance entrance will stay the same, but will be limited
to ambulances only – no more pedestrian traffic will be
allowed.
Access to the emergency department from that entrance will
change, too. People will no longer be able to turn left, but can
only proceed straight ahead. A security camera will also be in
place.
“This will be a big change for the community,” which used to be
able to come in and out of the ED at will, Kazmarek said.
There will be a new area to the right that will allow emergency
crews to write a report, have equipment and have coffee.
“That’s something we haven’t had before,” Kazmarek said.
Further to the right will be areas to deal with infectious or
airborne diseases or chemical hazard, including a shower area.
Since the information desk will no longer be there, a phone will
be mounted to the wall for people who need assistance.
