Prime Location
When Saint John’s Health Center’s Emergency Room, located on the first floor of the Howard Keck Center, was in the planning stage, nurses, doctors, housekeeping, administration, paramedics and other staff members involved in the running of the Department were consulted to ensure that it was as effective and comfortable as possible for patients.
The ER is situated close to imaging and diagnostics and is a straight elevator ride up to surgery, Cath Lab and Labor and Delivery. This setup is efficient and beneficial for patients.
Saint John’s knows patients don’t want to be in the hospital any longer than they have to be, and is continuously working to reduce their time in the ER, while improving quality of care. By obtaining extensive input in designing the ER, Saint John’s was able to solve problems with patient flow and decrease the turnaround time needed to clean rooms for the next patient.
The ER’s location has also greatly reduced the amount of time patients spend being transported around the hospital for tests and procedures, thus reducing their length of stay dramatically and making sure their time (and the staff’s time) spent in the ER is used as efficiently as possible.
Having the ER’s entrance facing Arizona Avenue has also greatly improved parking. Valet parking is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Saint John’s also consulted local EMTs, paramedics, police officers and firefighters to set up protocols for approaching the ER’s entrance so as not to disturb people living nearby.
State-of-the-Art Facilities
Saint John’s Health Center’s Emergency Room features 27 spacious private exam rooms with TVs, phones and Wi-Fi access.
The rooms are designed to allow procedures to be performed at the bedside and provide patient privacy throughout the procedure. If an in-house bed is not readily available, a hospital bed can be placed in the ER exam room and patients can comfortably stay there with family members.
In addition to allowing family and friends to be in the room with patients, this setup also permits important medical supplies to be stored at the bedside so doctors, nurses and staff do not have to search for them during an emergency.
The rooms are also situated around the nurses’ stations, which allows for direct patient monitoring and provides a safer environment.