Columbia Memorial | Health Compass | Summer 2018

What changes have you made since coming to CMH three years ago? A . We’ve made a number of changes over the past three years, including transitioning the physician group to board-certified, residency- trained emergency physicians. This is the highest level of training for emergency medicine physicians. Recently, we also increased the use of ultrasound within the department. Using ultrasound for evaluations and procedures results in quicker assessment and treatment of patients. How have those changes impacted the care patients receive? A. Because of our training and our focus on improving operations, the community is receiving better medical treatment than ever before. We can now see patients sooner and treat them more rapidly. We have focused on reducing patients’ “length of stay” (the amount of time they’re in the ED) and the time it takes for the patient to be seen once they arrive in the ED—this is often less than 10 minutes. Because of the higher level of training, once the board- certified physician sees a patient, they can manage their care more quickly. Patients who come to the CMH Emergency Department, on average, spend less time in the ED than in prior years. We also continually focus Elevating our lifesaving care on providing good service. We monitor the responses from patient satisfaction surveys and use it to work with physicians and caregivers, reinforcing areas of strength and making improvements as necessary. How do you continue to improve the quality of care patients receive? A. We have a very strong chart and case review system that allows us to continually improve our clinical care. We specifically monitor and review each patient that we’ve treated for heart attack, trauma and stroke. In today’s medical practice, this is essential in keeping physicians up-to-date on science and medicine. This will keep us always learning and evolving our clinical practice in alignment with scientific discovery. In addition, I work with Jill Tillotson, RN, the ED Manager, to focus on our operations or processes within the ED. We focus on rapidly assessing patients, Anthony Ferroggiaro, MD, joined CMH in 2015 as part of a partnership in emergency services with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Dr. Ferroggiaro cares for patients in the CMH Emergency Department (ED) and serves as the program’s medical director. He gave us an update on what has been happening in the ED and what we can look forward to: Emergency Department Q&A with Dr. Ferroggiaro By the numbers 4 We’re a Level 4 Trauma Center. See page 2 to learn more. 10 minutes: Most ED visitors are seen in this amount of time or less. 4 HEALTH COMPASS SUMMER 2018