United Medical Center told EverythingLubbock.com they were experiencing longer wait times for their emergency room, but they are also offering new resources to make the process faster for when flu season arrives.
“We see maybe 250 patients a day and we admit maybe 20 to 25 percent of those people,” UMC Emergency Center Medical Director Dr. Christopher Piel said. “So that’s quite a few admissions and when the hospital’s full those admissions stay in the emergency room until we can get a bed. And that occupies beds that we want to be seeing other patients with so we’re taxed in that way.”
UMC is a state funded hospital, therefore, they accept every patient that walks through the doors. So Dr. Piel said patients sent from other facilities in the area could be the cause of a longer ER wait time.
Another way UMC cuts down wait time is by transporting patients to the correct facility based on their medical needs Dr. Piel said.
“A lot of times they’re (clinics) not as backed up as the emergency room and those primary care physicians and people who work in urgent care center can see those patients and they can make that determination too if they decide hey this patient is too sick, they’ll get the to the emergency room as well,” Dr. Piel said.
Patients who enter UMC’s ER first go through a triage process according to a nation-wide protocol. Then a nurse or physician will evaluate their symptoms and judge where they will get the best treatment.
“It’s not a receptionist at the desk who’s making that decision,” UMC PIO Eric Finley said. “You’re being triaged by a physician in the ER and that physician is going to say, ‘Hey I don’t know if you need to be here. You might benefit more with a shorter wait time, and with a smaller bill by going to this urgent care center. Do you want to go?’ And at that point that patient has that choice. If they don’t want to go they can stay right here.”
A nurse hotline and online resources are also offered to allow patients to assess their symptoms before they sign up for an ER wait time.
“We’re trying to have several different avenues, as well as, some online videos that we’re using to teach people about the process of what we do but we’re trying to make it as easy as possible for those people for those people coming to the hospital,” Finley said.
Find more information about UMC’s resources on their website here.
