2011 Report to the Community - Allina Health

New ED Makes
Impressive Gains
in Serving Patients
United Hospital’s new emergency department
is helping more patients, faster.
the peter J. King emergency Care Center opened
in april 2011 in renovated space, with an array of
improvements in caring for patients.
united’s emergency department (ed), one of the east
metro area’s busiest, served 9 percent more patients in
2011 compared to 2010, for a total of 47,000.
on average, patients waited only five minutes from
arrival until they were escorted to a treatment room.
then, they saw a physician in an average of 15 minutes,
a statistic that ranks united very favorably among eds
in Minnesota and the nation, said steve horstmann,
emergency department director.
overall, patients save about 40 minutes in their
emergency visits, compared to the previous ed. surveys
indicate patients are significantly more satisfied with
their ed experience, horstmann noted.
the new ed offers services to provide the right care
quickly:
• equipment for Ct scans, X-rays and ultrasounds
• 27 treatment rooms (double the previous number)
and six treatment rooms for mental health patients
• a separate urgent care area
• Greater capacity to respond to a major emergency in
the community
the staff and physicians follow protocols to start care
quickly for people who are having heart attack or strokes.
these measures also showed improvements, he noted.
for example, the number of patients over age 30 who
received an electrocardiogram in less than 10 minutes
climbed to more than 70 percent in the new facilities. in
the former ed, this was only 32 percent.
“united expanded the ed so that we could serve the
community better,” horstmann said. “our statistics for
2011 show we’re accomplishing that.”
United’s Emergency Department
Equipment is Helping Patients in Africa
Medical equipment from United’s former emergency
department is now being used in the capital city of
Uganda. After the Peter J. King Emergency Care Center
opened in 2011, United donated its old equipment to Hope
in the City, a Minnetonka-based charity. Hope in the City
sent the equipment to Mulago Hospital, which is a 1,700bed
facility and the only hospital in Kampala, Uganda.
3
2011 REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY |