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Valley Hospitals Cut ER Wait Times

POSTED: 8:49 am MST December 1, 2008

Two Valley hospitals are using a different emergency room system that cuts down wait times.

As soon as patients walk through the sliding doors at either Chandler Regional or Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, they'll be greeted by a physician usually within ten minutes.

"And the physician, no matter what the patient's chief complaint is, sees the patient, evaluates them," says Dr. Eric Madison with Chandler Regional.

He says depending on the severity of the patient's state, they'll get directed to one of three areas.

The first, the less urgent fast track area will treat "straight forward things, lacerations, sprain, bumps, (and) bruises."

The treat area will treat you "whether you have a migraine headache or some abdominal pain, cat scan or some blood work, things like that."

The acute area is where patients in need of immediate attention for heart attacks and strokes. "What we're really trying to do get to those patients. We don't want them waiting in the waiting room. We want to get them in a bed right away."

Madison says the new system has cut down patient time by 25 percent and 90 percent of patients are seen within 20 minutes.

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