New Emergency Department at the Service of Colombia
The institution responsible for looking after affiliates in the Mandatory Health Plan, regulated by Colombian government, expects to tend to approximately 300,000 ER patients per year at EPS Sanitas.
The Emergency Unit's infrastructure is designed to tend 70% of the current EPS doctor office visits for high complexity emergency cases at institutional clinics and hospital, which will aid to relieve overcapacity these centers and allow them to focus their efforts towards patients requiring vital emergency care.
The Emergency Room facilities are part of a 5,200-square-meter complex with 33 doctor's offices equipped to provide medical services for scheduled and emergency doctor's appointments required by patients.
Among the new healthcare model features, to be implemented, is the process known as Advanced Triage. In other words, this will be the patient's first assessment, which is performed by a doctor and not a nurse as is commonly done.
This process enables us to prioritize the care for severely ill patients, to seek immediate pain management, and the potential of ordering needed diagnostic tests swiftly and timely with the aim of reducing health care wait times and humanize the service.
Furthermore, EPS Sanitas designed a system which prevents any interruptions in patient care during changes in health personnel shifts. This permits the Emergency Department to supply a sufficient number of professionals during high demand days and times thus avoiding delays due to understaffed units during rush hours.
The Emergency Unit opened its doors on April 4th and is yet another one of EPS Sanitas' contributions aimed towards solving persistent healthcare problems in Colombia which include relieving overcrowded emergency services of high complexity clinics and hospitals.
