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Local Hospital Shortens Emergency Room Visits

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Jul 3, 2006 3:21 pm US/Central

Local Hospital Shortens Emergency Room Visits

by Sue Turner
Maplewood, Minn. (WCCO) ― Changes at the St. John's Hospital emergency room is making the experience faster and easier for patients to get help.

"He choked on a caramel with nuts, then he got really wheezy and loud," said Tracey Luby who never had to visit the Maplewood, Minn. hospital on Sunday when her 4-year-old son had an allergic reaction.

But she never expected this. "We got right in," said Luby.

The emergency room at the hospital was full when Nicholas was there. But a shorter registration process, an improved radio system can reach anyone in the hospital, and color coding system tracks how long people have been waiting, doctor visits are not a day long process any longer.

Yet it doesn't solve all the problems, hospital staff members said.

"How do we get patients that need to stay in the hospital out of the ER and on to the next level of care," said Jeff Murphy, the hospital's clinical manager.

St. Johns created a whole new unit for those patients to free up beds in the emergency room. They also created a fast track, where minor injuries are treated. Noreen Edwards got a broken hand taken care of in an hour.

"I thought I'd be here a little longer, I'm up and on my way," said Edwards.

These changes came after years of studying how things worked in other hospitals around the country with similar populations. Hospital staff says it wasn't just for care, it was for better customer service.

"That is probably people's number one complaint," said Murphy.

The average emergency room visit now is three and a half to four hours, down by 40 minutes.

The hospital also has a Hmong interpreter available 24 hours a day to help speed things along.

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