Catawba Valley Medical Center announces Emergency Department Fast Track care option

HICKORY, NC – Dec. 2, 2013 – Catawba Valley Medical Center has announced the opening of the Fast Track care option in its Emergency Department, an effort to reduce wait times. This move aims to lighten the patient load in the triage area, while allowing emphasis to be placed on more urgent patient care needs.

“We saw an opportunity to improve efficiency inside the Emergency Department,” said Chuck Scronce, administrator, Emergency Services. “My hope is for the patients who enter the department with a less urgent emergency to begin self-selecting the Fast Track option. This will not only speed up the time it takes for them to be treated, but also improve care times for our more critical patients.”

Patients with minor emergencies, such as small burns and lacerations, ear infections, cold and flu symptoms, sore throats, toothaches and sprains, will now be treated in the Fast Track area located inside the Emergency Department. Fast Track is staffed with a dedicated team led by a physician assistant, and patients are encouraged to gain access to the facility through the Emergency Department entrance located on 11th Avenue Drive SE.

With more than 50,000 patients treated last year, Scronce identified 38 percent of the population that would have qualified for the Fast Track option. Within the first two weeks of the Fast Track implementation, 60 percent of patients were treated and released within 90 minutes, up from 40 percent during the same time frame in 2012. The average length of stay also improved to 94 minutes from 114 minutes last year. In addition, the time from the moment a patient enters the emergency department until seeing a doctor decreased by an average of 10 minutes.

About Catawba Valley Medical Center

Catawba Valley Medical Center (CVMC) in Hickory, N.C., is the region’s largest not-for-profit, public healthcare system and serves the community without direct funding from taxes. CVMC provides and promotes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventive medicine and acute care. CVMC has received three Magnet designations from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and has been recognized with three Women’s Choice Awards, being named one of America’s Best 100 Hospitals for Patient Experience in 2012 and 2013, a 2013 Best Hospital for Patient Experience in Obstetrics andone of America’s Best Hospitals in Orthopedics in 2013 by WomenCertified®. CVMC received the 2013 QUEST® Award for High-Value Healthcare from Premier, recognizing a reduction in harm, mortality, readmissions and costs, while improving the patient experience and delivering evidence-based care. For more information, please visit http://www.catawbavalleymedical.org.

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