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Fall 2004 Growing...growing...goneThe healthcare needs of the surrounding region drive change and expansion at AAMC. Here are answers to recent questions about AAMC’s current projects, recent enhancements, and recent history.
(L-R) Donna Gilbert, R.N., C.N. III; Bill Moore, R.N., C.N. III; Pat Saunders, R.N., Director, Emergency Department; Patty Sherman, R.N., Clinical Educator; Mary Ellen Palowitch, R.N., Manager, Emergency Department; Elizabeth Keller, Management Engineer. Q: We’ve noticed construction still underway at the Medical Park Campus. When will it be completed and ready? The construction project expanding AAMC’s Clatanoff Pavilion is now finished. Furniture was delivered in September and rooms were ready for their first patients in early October. Q: How will the new space be used and what else is planned? Designed to accommodate an additional 26 beds, the new unit will open beds as needed. Patient admissions at AAMC grew by nearly 25 percent between 1999 and 2003, and the pace of growth shows no signs of slowing. Intended to meet immediate needs, the Clatanoff Pavilion expansion project represents just one aspect of a long-term plan that looks at population growth and demographic changes in the region. The plan represents a broad-based, proactive strategy to ensure that AAMC’s physical and staffing capacity will expand to meet those future needs. Q: How does the region’s growth affect the volume of patient visits to AAMC’s Emergency Department? Change is constant in AAMC’s Emergency Department. Of the more than 70,000 patients expected to visit the Emergency Department this year—a daily pace of more than 200 people to 40 of them require admission to the hospital. Managing that number of cases efficiently while providing quality care is complex. Processes and procedures are continually being refined to keep up the pace of unprecedented growth. Q: What is being done to enhance service and wait times in the ED? In place now and on track for the near future are enhancements to smooth the flow of traffic through the ED, plus an addition of staff, all designed to ensure that the entire ED experience is as patient-friendly as possible. Additions to the staff include a new physician and a nurse practitioner, plus a second nurse and another Emergency Department technician in the triage area. Other plans involve a highly sophisticated bedtracking system, allowing the minute-by-minute tracking of the availability of beds; a new nine-bed Admissions Unit for ED patients requiring admission; and the addition of three more triage rooms to accommodate a greater number of patients as they arrive. Q: What is the status of AAMC’s former downtown site? 
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