::::::::: Overview  ::::
Emory University Hospital Midtown is one of the nation's leading community-based, acute care teaching facilities. The 538-bed hospital is recognized nationally for its work in cardiology and heart-related diseases and has an outstanding reputation in the fields of reconstructive surgery, maternal and infant care, orthopaedics, and gastrointestinal diseases.

::::::::: Service  ::::
While our emergency department is widely known for its cutting edge technology and expert medical staff, our patients know us for our true expertise - service. Indeed, many of our new patients complete their visit impressed by our distinct focus on their comfort and care and our attention to their families. The emergency department is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and treats approximately 140 patients per day and over 50,000 patients annually for a variety of medical conditions. The express care area treats approximately 25 percent of emergency department patients. The emergency department is staffed by two board-prepared/board-certified emergency physicians 24 hours per day. Associate providers provide an additional 36 hours of care per day during peak volume times, as well as various resident physicians in Emergency Medicine and Family Practice.

We have improved our ability to care for families of patients by redesigning our environment to make it serene and caring. No matter what the crisis, our goal is for the families of our patients to be as comfortable as possible, so we focus on providing a relaxed environment for the mind and for the body.

The salt and fresh and salt water aquariums in the waiting room are only one example of our commitment to ambient and considerate patient and family care. We are pleased to provide the following services:

• Wireless high speed internet access is available for patients and their family members.
• Five private family waiting rooms equipped with televisions and an extra telephone line for internet access.
• An express care area for minor emergencies that operates from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
• A patient call system that routes calls from the nurse call button directly to a cell phone carried by the patient's nurse.
• A nourishment center within the emergency department.
• Onsite chaplain services during the day and a 24-hour chaplain on call.
• An eight-bed Clinical Decision Unit, which can do a more thorough evaluation of medical conditions requiring more time than a typical emergency department visit but not felt to necessitate a full hospital admission. These include chest pain, abdominal pain, asthma, and many other conditions.

::::::::: Teaching  ::::
Emory University Hospital Midtown was donated to Emory University in 1940 so that it could serve as a teaching hospital for the Emory University School of Medicine. All attending physicians who work in the emergency department have faculty appointments with the Emory University School of Medicine.

The Emory University Hospital Midtown faculty participate fully in the teaching activities of the Department of Emergency Medicine. Faculty work along side Emergency Medicine board-certified colleagues with expertise in EMS, toxicology, medical ethics, international and public health.

The monthly rotation through the emergency department is a favorite of both Emergency Medicine and Family Practice residents largely because of the diversity of patients and the strengths of bedside teaching. The many teaching and education opportunities include:

• A faculty mentor program for residents.
• Ultrasound training for faculty and residents onsite in the emergency department.
• Medical student teaching.
• Observation medicine in our clinical decision unit.

::::::::: Efficiency  ::::
The emergency department at Emory University Hospital Midtown leverages technology through each phase of the emergency department visit in order to provide timely service. Our tracking systems allow the option of quick registration or bedside registration in order to get patients into a doctor as soon as possible. In addition, it allows physicians to track overall flow of patients in real time. Other uses of technology include:

• The availability of dictations on a database that allows physicians to edit and review them.
• The electronic generation of legible prescriptions and discharge instructions for patients.
• An electronic medical records system for our charts so that they are legible and easily retrieved. All prior visits within the Emory Healthcare System are included in the database, as are laboratory, radiology, and catheterization reports. Information is updated in real time so that we may know as much about a patient's conditions as possible and provide the most comprehensive care.
• A digital radiology system that physicians use to "wet read" all x-rays. Our emergency department has a dedicated radiologic technologist 24 hours a day. We take films in a full radiology suite contained in our triage area so that we may minimize patient movement and shorten cycle times for radiology. Radiologists may view all films immediately on a server housed in the emergency department. These images allow the option of paper copies of films for patients, or we can distribute them to patients on a CD-ROM. The CD-ROM has a self-loading application that allows the patient's primary care provider to view it on a computer in his/her office.
• All providers carry cell phones on a local network to increase independent movement while maintaining communication.