Emergency Care

In an emergency, every minute counts. When you cannot see your primary provider or you have suffered a serious injury, our experienced and well-trained staff provides emergency care for adults and children 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Our team identifies patients experiencing life-threatening conditions and rapidly initiates appropriate treatment. Emergency medical conditions treated include:

• Allergic reactions
• Breathing difficulties
• Broken bones
• Chest pain or rapid heartbeat (over 120 beats per minute)
• Choking/drowning/suffocation
• Loss of consciousness
• Poisoning or drug overdose
• Severe wounds/burns/bleeding
• Sudden intense pain
• Sudden loss or change of vision

Heart Attack Care
Bothwell’s STEMI team has received a Level III ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) Center accreditation by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Time Critical Diagnosis Unit. Earning this designation means that our team meets state and national standards and works together to get an EKG for the patient having an attack, have a physician interpret the results, make a decision to transfer, get the patient out the door, and have the vessel open at a cath lab, all in 90 to 120 minutes.

Stroke Care
Bothwell’s stroke team has earned accreditation as an acute stroke-ready hospital by The Joint Commission. For patients, certification means all Bothwell staff members are trained to identify signs of stroke. Patients are quickly assessed and given appropriate testing, medication and potential transfer to a comprehensive stroke center partner.

Emergency Department Renovations Planned

Plans are underway to begin a three-phase renovation in the ED to improve efficiency and throughput, which is a patient’s length of stay from the time of arrival to their departure from the ED or admission to the hospital.

A change already in place is scheduling a provider in triage (PIT) at least three days a week on typically busy days. The PIT is either a nurse practitioner or physician assistant who conducts the medical screening exam to rule out an emergency medical condition (EMTALA* requirement) and moves the highest-acuity level patients to an exam room room while others remain in the waiting room. Since adding a PIT, we have noticed a drop in fewer patients leaving before being evaluated during those shifts.

Phase 1 of the renovation, which has been approved by the state and will be done by our construction partner Septagon, includes:

• Removing the wall behind the existing Security desk to expand the waiting room
• Moving the Security desk to the existing triage room
• The new triage room will be in the old fast track area located behind the double doors where a consult room and closet is now
• The nurses station/med room in the back will become an internal waiting room for patients who are evaluated and discharged by the PIT

The estimated timeline for completion of Phase 1 is by the end of September.

Phase 2

• Finishing out the neurodiagnostics area (formerly the COVID infusion center)
• Making new exam rooms, a new nurses station and a storage room

Phase 3

• Moving the Omnicell room into exam rooms 11 and 12, which are currently a shared room
• Finishing out the nurses station and making the current Omnicell room a physician and APP desk area to create better privacy

Overall, we will gain two exam rooms and better flow within the department. We hope to have all phases completed in a year once we start.

*Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act

The Emergency Department is located on the north side of the hospital at 601 E. 14th Street.

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