Excellence in Emergency Medicine
Hunterdon Medical Center´s Emergency Department serves the community with a state-of-the-art emergency medical system that integrates first responder capability with pre-hospital assessment and treatment, Physician Specialists and consistent excellence in care. The result is an Emergency Department that is among the most respected in the state.
Transportation capabilities to specialized burn, trauma and cardiac care centers assure that even your most acute needs will be met.
In 2002, Hunterdon Medical Center embarked on the most ambitious expansion project in its 49-year history. The result is an Emergency Department three times its former size and a reflection of our commitment to excellence in health care for our community.
First Responder
Our regional Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICUs) serve Hunterdon and southern Warren Counties, providing access to advanced treatment and life support equipment in the face of life-threatening emergencies. They were the first in New Jersey to administer Retavase - a "clot busting" drug - to patients during transport, greatly reducing the wait for treatment. Hunterdon Medical Center also acts as a learning resource, providing regular training opportunities in the latest emergency medical procedures for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) from around the county.
Physician Specialists
Seven Physician Specialists with specialty training in emergency medicine staff the Emergency Department. They provide the highest level of round-the-clock critical care.
Excellence in Care
The Emergency Department has set a goal of assuring that treatment is initiated for most patients within 30 minutes of arrival. Additional physician specialists, critical care nurses, and diagnostic staff also provide immediate support.
Patient Satisfaction
For the last 5 years, the Emergency Department has consistently scored in the 99th percentile (among 266 hospitals nation-wide using the Press, Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey).
Our outstanding Patient Satisfaction extends to these areas:
- courtesy shown to family and friends
- waiting time in treatment area
- concern for comfort
- informed about treatments
- doctor and nurse take problems seriously
Emergency Department Expansion
In 1979, when Hunterdon County had 87,000 residents, the Emergency Department provided 12,569 visits. By 2001, the number had grown dramatically to 25,132 visits. Renovation of the Department has created a facility three times its former size, and as sophisticated as any in the nation today.
The design process has emphasized the comfort, privacy and convenience of our patients.
Every effort was made to design a facility that will give patients the very best of care in a spacious state-of-the-art, private and convenient environment.
Patients will notice the changes even before they walk through the emergency room doors. Additional parking spaces, separate entrances for ambulances and walk-ins and a reconfigured patient drop-off area provide easy access. The facility features a private registration area and 14 private treatment rooms. The ICU has increased from 10 beds to 12, and includes offices, doctors´ work stations and a centralized nurses´ station. Two designated trauma rooms are specially equipped to handle patients with cardiac emergencies. Additional cardiac monitors enable physicians to monitor their cardiac patients at all times on centrally-located computer screens.
The new Emergency Department also houses its own x-ray equipment, eliminating some of the need for patient transport to the Medical Imaging Department and resulting in faster test results. A transport machine designed to carry blood and cultures to the hospital´s lab also aids in faster test results.
Another specialized treatment feature is a secure, private surveillance room for patients with mental health emergencies. This room enables staff to stabilize patients in a safe environment separate from the rest of the department.
A negative pressure isolation room provides a safe environment for treating patients with an airborne infectious disease, such as tuberculosis. A negative-pressure room helps avoid the risk of infection by venting air from the room so that it does not mix with air in the rest of the department.
This spacious new facility has been designed with you - our patient - in mind. This attention to detail - from triage through treatment - assures the best care possible for Hunterdon Medical Center´s Emergency Department patients.