Emergencies:

The Brooks Memorial Hospital Emergency Department is staffed by physicians, registered nurses and allied health care professionals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our ER physician is available to treat you or your own physician will be contacted. If you need the services of a specialist, a member of the hospital's Medical Staff is available on-call to treat you.

 

Brooks Hospital is classified as a Level II Emergency Service. All patient care services are provided under the direction and control of an Emergency Services Director.

 

 

LOCATION

Emergency Department Entrance

PHONE

ER Registration Clerk

(716) 363-3060

 

Emergency Department Clinical Nurse Manager

Vicky Cunningham, RN

 

HOURS

24 Hours a day

 

Emergency Care at Brooks Memorial Hospital

Just about everyone has visited an Emergency Department at some time in their lives. Maybe it was for a sprained ankle, a laceration, or a sick child. It could be a stroke, heart attack, or a motor vehicle accident. Whatever the crisis, your local Emergency Department is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year. Specially trained health professionals are always on staff to treat a broad spectrum of illnesses and injuries, some of which may be life-threatening and require immediate attention.

The Emergency Medicine physicians at Brooks Memorial Hospital have offered a few tips for when you need to visit the ER:

• Have a list of, or know about your medical history.
• Bring a list of medications you are taking.
• Know your allergies.
• When was your last tetanus shot?
• Females should know when their last menstrual period occurred.
• Do not eat or drink anything before the doctor examines you.
• Know that the ED staff cannot provide medical advice or give out any information over the phone.
• Please make arrangements for childcare before coming to the ED. If that is not possible, please watch the child you brought while the doctors and nurses are taking care of your family member or friend.

When you arrive in the ED, you will undergo a brief triage, or screening interview, to help determine the nature and severity of your illness. There are 3 triage levels which include Emergent, Urgent, and Non-Emergent. Emergent patients have a life threatening injury or illness and must be treated immediately or may be at risk of losing life or limb. Urgent patients can safely wait for treatment, but need to be seen or their injury or illness could worsen. Non-emergent patients have an injury or illness that is not life threatening and could safely wait to be treated without the risk of the condition becoming worse. Patients are cared for based on their triage level, not on a first-come, first-served basis. This can be a little frustrating for the non-emergent patient, but it could be the difference between life and death for the emergent patient. The nursing staff often re-assesses patients who are waiting to be seen. If your condition worsens while you are waiting, please notify the ED staff. If an extended waiting time is anticipated, the ED staff will inform those waiting of the reason for the delay.

The Brooks Memorial Hospital Emergency Department has 9 treatment areas, and serves over 16,000 patients per year. More than 60% of people admitted to Brooks in 2007 arrived via the ED. Brooks Memorial Hospital has the only Emergency Department in Chautauqua County that is fully staffed by physicians who are specially trained and Board Certified in Emergency Medicine. There is always a physician on duty in the Brooks Memorial Hospital Emergency Department to provide the best possible emergency care. By supporting your local hospital, you can help ensure its continued presence in your community.

 

Emergency Department Implements Electronic Medical Record

The Brooks Emergency Department recently implemented a new paperless electronic documentation system. The PICIS ED PulseCheck is the most comprehensive and well-integrated emergency department information system (EDIS) in the industry and is a cutting edge solution to improve managing patient data and improving safety to the more than 16,700 Emergency Department visits that Brooks Memorial Hospital sees each year. 

 

Templates within PulseCheck guide the caregivers to a list of appropriate questions to be answered depending on the patient's complaint.  The medical staff is alerted when test results are available, and these results can be instantly cross-referenced to previous results. The new electronic system has safeguards to verify medication dosages and check for potentially dangerous interactions with other medications the patient is taking. It also eliminates problems with illegible handwriting. At the time of discharge, patients can get customized instructions and electronic prescriptions. Important patient information is available immediately, the system permits remote chart access for community physicians so they can securely access an ED patient's chart via the web.  ED PulseCheck is completely HIPAA compliant and also provides information on the status of the entire ED, helping to improve patient flow and reduce patient waiting times.

 

Michael Filice MD, Director of the Emergency Department at Brooks Memorial Hospital commented, "I was very impressed with how smoothly the implementation went.  The physicians and hospital staff have embraced the new technology and we are pleased to offer this enhanced service to the community we serve.

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