When a sudden illness or injury occurs, the Emergency & Trauma Center at St. Alexius Medical Center is prepared to provide immediate treatment. All of our Emergency Medicine doctors and staff are trained to deal with cases from minor injuries to stabilizing trauma patients.
The ER staff understands that as a patient, waiting to be seen in the emergency room can be an added stress. St. Alexius strives to maintain a waiting time that is shorter than the average experienced by patients throughout the U.S. Patients at St. Alexius experience an average total wait time – from arrival to discharge – of 114 minutes compared to a national average of four hours. The number one goal at St. Alexius is to keep communication open with the patient and explain any delays that may cause a longer wait time.
Emergency medicine requires staff to be prepared to see a variety of cases that come to an emergency room (ER). Conditions that may bring a patient to the ER include:
- Car accidents
- Sports injuries
- Broken Bones
- Burns
- Difficulty breathing
- Unconsciousness
- Overdoses
- Severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting
- Food poisoning
- Blood when vomiting, coughing, or urinating
- Severe allergic reactions
- High Fevers
- Chest Pain/Heart Attacks
- Strokes – loss of function and/or numbness in arms or legs
When a patient comes to the emergency room, they will go through a short interview, or triage, to determine the severity of the patient. Patients with life-threatening, or more severe symptoms, will be seen more quickly than other patients.
Fast Track Emergency System
The Fast Track is part of the Emergency & Trauma Center that allows non-critical patients who have urgent medical conditions to be treated by a medical team while the emergency room staff focuses on critical patients.
The St. Alexius Fast Track System is staffed by six Nurse Practitioners. The Fast Track system is an efficient way to move non-critical patients through the emergency system in a quicker manner. Patients that will typically be seen in the Fast Track system experience minor injuries that typically would be seen in after-hours clinics.
Some of the cases seen include:
- Sprains
- Strains
- Ear infections
- Respiratory/Asthma
Fast Track decisions are based on patient condition and symptoms and not on patient financial or insurance considerations.