Comfort-focused ER to streamline care, improve patient experience

A new 42,000 square-foot emergency room (ER) at Florida Hospital Tampa's campus will take a new approach to emergency care, according to a report from the Tampa Tribune.

ER patients' first stop is a triage room, where physicians examine them, stabilize them and order tests, before moving them to one of 48 private rooms, which include accommodations for family members, the newspaper reported.

At this $53-million emergency department, pediatric patients will receive treatment in one of the facility's seven rooms that feature soft lighting, animated scenes on the walls and ceiling art, according to the article. The facility has four isolation rooms, a radiology suite--which also features nature scenes on the ceiling-- and an ambulance bay that can fit six of the vehicles at a time, and also boasts recessed hallway lighting, rather than glaring overhead lights, the Tampa Tribune reported.

All of the features in the new ER are designed to maximize efficiency and prioritize patient comfort, Wenzel Tirheimer, M.D., the ER medical director, told the newspaper.

There's also hope the new process could streamline treatment for the 70,000 patients the hospital serves annually (about 200 people a day) and get people through the system more quickly, according to Steve Lay, president of Tampa Bay Emergency Physicians.

To learn more:
- read the article