Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
When health emergencies happen, patients and their family members often turn to the emergency department for prompt medical attention. With thousands of patient encounters in the ER annually, Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital not only delivers ife-saving patient care, it prioritizes short wait times, with a goal to connect every patient with a medical professional for timely assessment and treatment, according to the release from Lutheran Health.
ER wait times can be an indicator of hospital efficiency and patient experience, and is one of the quality indicators measured for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) star ratings. While CMS measures the total time a patient spends in the ER, the first step at Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital is to be evaluated by a physician, physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner.
“Nobody likes sitting around in the ER for a long time when they’re not feeling great, and we’re always working on improving our processes, staffing and communication to make sure patients get the care they need quickly,” said Amy Watts BSN, RN and ECC director of Lutheran Kosciusko Hospital. “We will always treat the most critical emergencies as soon as necessary, but our goal is for every patient to be seen in the shortest time possible.”
When considering whether to visit the emergency department, rather than an urgent care or primary care doctor, it’s important to remember that emergency departments typically treat life-threatening situations that need immediate attention in a hospital setting, such as heart attack symptoms, stroke symptoms, difficulty breathing, severe allergic reaction, severe abdominal pain and uncontrollable bleeding. Urgent care centers are an option when quick treatment is needed but it is not a medical emergency, such as sprains and strains, low-grade fever and mild flu or cold symptoms.
