Fast Track

Montgomery Hospital Completes Emergency Department Expansion Project

With the advent of managed care, emergency medicine has undergone a dramatic change. Increasingly, the Emergency Department is a surrogate for primary care - a place for patients to go 24 hours a day for non-emergency situations as well as for emergency episodes.

At Montgomery Hospital, we recognize the challenge - and opportunity - that accompanies this new reality. In February of 2001 a Fast Track Care unit was formed within the existing emergency department. This six-bed unit is designed to meet the needs of non-critical emergency visitors, in one hour or less. Patients arriving with strains, sprains, cold symptoms, allergic reactions, lacerations and other non-life threatening conditions will be treated by non-physician emergency staff such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, freeing physicians to handle more serious cases. This popular service is now available seven days a week, twelve hours a day.

• Abramson Family Foundation Awards Grant for new Fast Track
• Fast Track at Montogmery Hospital: A Brief History
• Paperless System Is Wave of the Future for Emergency Departments