ED expects expanded demand for urgent care

Photo By Scott Speaks | With the trend toward urgent care growing nationwide, Eisenhower Army Medical Center’s Emergency Department looks to grow its response by adding additional trauma rooms and a new ambulance. (Photo by Scott R. Speaks/RELEASED)  

AUGUSTA, GA, UNITED STATES

07.25.2023

Story by David White 

Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center

EISENHOWER ARMY MEDICAL CENTER FORT GORDON, Ga. (July 24, 2023) -- With the trend toward urgent care growing nationwide, Eisenhower Army Medical Center’s Emergency Department looks to grow its response. To date, EAMC’s staff and facilities show impressive results.

“The national health-care trends have moved to a more on-demand need for health care,” EAMC’s Dr. Troy W. Akers, chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, wrote in a recent email. “This is evident in the rise of urgent care facilities in the community and telehealth expansion. We expect the demand for prompt urgent care to expand. To keep up, we’re adding more nurses and providers.

“This time last year the EAMC ED team saw approximately 86 patients per day,” he wrote. “By expanding the ED footprint, it allows us to see lower acuity patients in a Fast Track area. This coupled with the extremely hard work of our staff has enabled us to enhance our access to care, thus increasing the number of patients seen each day by nearly 50 more patients.

“Despite the increase in patient volume,” he wrote, “we consistently have one of the lowest length of stay of all Military Treatment Facilities in the Defense Health Agency, averaging 107 minutes, a decrease from our previous 139-minut LOS.

“Emergency Medicine across the country is facing significant challenges so these are dramatic improvements when you compare us to other facilities locally and nationally, Akers wrote.” Some of our community partners’ emergency departments have wait times of 14-18 hours routinely.”
“A pilot program started just under a year ago,” he wrote, “and has resulted in an increase in 30 percent in patient volume while decreasing [a patient’s LOS by an average of] 42 minutes.”

Another issue facing many emergency services throughout the country, and even more so here in the local area, is lack of ambulance services.
“There just aren’t many paramedics available from Gold Cross ambulance services and everyone is competing for them,” he wrote.
This scenario played out locally when Gold Cross ambulance service stopped providing services to Richmond County forcing the State of Georgia to step in to get another ambulance company on-board. That company, Central EMS, is not currently doing transports so when patients need to go to another hospital or even back home; there are very limited resources available.
“Col. Mon really took this challenge head-on and has been an example for other DHA facilities,” Akers wrote. “EAMC has acquired our own ambulance and will be hiring our own ambulance crews to provide those emergency transport services. When not engaged in transport operations, those staff members will help perform patient care in our newly expanded Fast Track area.

“It’s going to be a game-changer.”

The new staff should be on-board this summer.

“We have space for the new ambulance without having to build any new structures and with the extra space in Fast Track, we have plenty of room for the new staff to integrate into the flow,” Akers said.

Akers is “looking forward to making advancements in providing the 5-Star care our patients expect.”

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CUTLINE: With the trend toward urgent care growing nationwide, Eisenhower Army Medical Center’s Emergency Department looks to grow its response by adding additional trauma rooms and a new ambulance. (Photo by Scott R. Speaks)

• Date Taken: 07.25.2023
• Date Posted: 07.26.2023 07:51
• Story ID: 449931
• Location: AUGUSTA, GA, US