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It’s hard to be prepared for an Emergency Department visit. After all, it’s not an event you plan. People arrive at the ED in various stages of illness and injury, from urgent to life-threatening.

Because patients in crisis must be dealt with immediately, Greenwich Hospital’s ED uses a “triage” system to identify the level of urgency. Each patient’s care team is led by a physician who is board certified in emergency medicine. While every patient is seen as quickly as possible, those in less critical condition may experience a wait.

“Greenwich Hospital has some of the lowest wait times in the area,” says Brian Doran, MD, the department’s medical director. “Of course, some waiting is unavoidable, such as when patients need to drink a contrast liquid for a CT scan, or stand by for test results.”

Still, any wait can seem endless when you are sick, injured and frightened. Our ED team's efforts to reduce wait times even further have resulted in a "fast track" treatment area. Here, less acute emergency patients can be quickly seen and discharged – on average within 90 minutes of arrival.

The Technology Advantage
“Proper treatment comes first and foremost,” Doran emphasizes. “We’ll never sacrifice quality of care for speed. But we do take advantage of the latest technology to keep care moving swiftly. For example, we have an electronic patient tracking system that gives us the real-time status of every patient in the ED. We use electronic X-rays, which speed viewing and consulting. And we have a bar-code technology that scans the patient’s ID bracelet at the bedside to assure the right medications are appropriately administered. Technologies like these support quality care within the rapid-response ED environment.”