MountainView makes 30-minute pledge

By Jenny Davis

Friday, Sept. 26, 2008 | midnight

As more patients are filing into the emergency room at MountainView Hospital because of population increases in the northwest part of town, the hospital has pledged to see all patients within 30 minutes.

"We recognize how busy people are, and when they are sick and going to the E.R., they want to be seen quickly," said Kathy Banusevich, director of the E.R. at the hospital.

For the past two months, the hospital staff has been doing a trial run of the 30-minute pledge and because of the results, the pledge was made public. To announce the new pledge, the hospital offered free blood pressure readings on Sept. 20.

To speed up the waiting time, the hospital dedicated a physician and a registered nurse to the pledge program and set aside four hospital beds for medical examinations. The other major change is speeding up the diagnostic testing process by having the nurse perform a rapid exam on patients and then order necessary X-rays and labs, draw blood or collect other specimens before the patient is seen by the doctor.

"We want to get that all done right from the lobby," Banusevich said. "That rapidly speeds up the whole process, and the results will go directly to the physician. It not only speeds the time frame for being seen, but speeds the time frame to discharge because the physician is dedicated to just one process."

Banusevich said the hospital staff wanted to make the pledge because emergency rooms across the valley are getting busier. Since 2005, there has been a 9 percent increase in emergency room patients.

"Nowadays people wait for months for doctor appointments, and sometimes they can't wait that long," she said. "The E.R. is being used more and more as the primary care for things like colds and flus. Also, for the uninsured, we're the only access to care."

But the major cause of increase in emergency rooms is the population rise in Las Vegas.

According to a Harvard Medical School study released in January 2008 and published in the journal Health Affairs, half of all emergency room patients across the country waited 30 minutes or more before being examined by a doctor in 2004, a 36 percent increase from a median wait time of 22 minutes in 1997.

MountainView Hospital is a part of HCA's Sunrise Health system in Las Vegas, which also includes Sunrise Hospital, Southern Hills Hospital and Sunrise Children's Hospital. While the other Sunrise Health hospitals are focusing on rapid medical exams, MountainView is the only hospital in the group so far to make the 30-minute pledge.

"It's what patients are asking for," Banusevich said.

In May 2007, MountainView kicked off a similar time-framed pledge for heart attacks. The hospital pledged a 90-minute "door to balloon" process where patients have their blocked arteries opened up within 90 minutes of entering the hospital. In 2008, from January to March, the hospital reached its 90-minute goal 98 percent of the time, and from April to June, the hospital reached its goal 100 percent of the time.

Centennial Hills Hospital in the northwest part of town added an Emergency Department lobby technician in April during peak hours. The lobby tech greets new patients, and if the triage nurse is busy, can obtain vital signs and help patients get more comfortable with things like ice packs, bandages or blankets. The lobby tech also helps keep patients informed.

"At Centennial Hills Hospital Medical Center's Emergency Department, the safety, comfort, and treatment of our customers is always our primary concern," said Amy Bochenek, director of Emergency Services. "That's why our goal is not only that every customer will be seen quickly, but treated quickly as well. Our spacious department allows for efficient operations and minimal to no wait times prior to placement in a treatment area."

Summerlin Hospital is in the process of expanding its emergency room to make it more spacious for patients.

Jenny Davis can be reached at 990-8921 or [email protected].