COLUMBUS, Ohio – The ER at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center got a lot bigger over the weekend with the opening at midnight Sunday of the new Abercrombie & Fitch Emergency Department.
Located on the east side of the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, 460 W. 10th Avenue, the emergency department is the first portion of the newly constructed hospital to open to patients.
The new area will increase the number of bed in the department to 70, up from 50 or so now. Renovations in the old emergency department will push the total past 100 beds next March, according to university officials.
The expansion will reduce wait times, among the longest in the state according to the Columbus Dispatch reports, and the length of stays, which had been averaging just over six hours, one of the longest waiting times in the state.
The new department is named for Ohio-based clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, which donated more than $10 million.
The new ER includes the nation’s first integrated cancer emergency department, where cancer patients and others can be seen by emergency physicians and nurses with additional training in oncology, the university said.
In the emergency department’s “no wait” approach to evaluating and treating patients a nurse takes part in the check-in process to begin assessments right away and a doctor physician is assigned to evaluate and treat patients and begin tests and medications.
There are four additional X-ray and CAT scan rooms and dedicated radiology physicians in the department, according to Dr. Eric Adkins, the department’s medical director.
The emergency department will also have dedicated respiratory specialists and pharmacists. Nine critical care rooms, including three resuscitation bays and six acute care rooms, will collaboration with programs such as trauma, burn, sepsis, heart attack and stroke to accommodate high volumes of critically ill and injured patients, Adkins said.
A room has been dedicated for eye injuries, there is space for geriatric patients and mental health crisis facilities have been improved, Adkins said.
By next March, the medical center’s emergency department will be measure 44,000 square feet and stretch about 200 yards.