New Concept: Drive-Thru Emergency

credit: tico24

As mentioned on a recent allnurses.com post, the Stanford Hospital & Clinics are trying out a new concept: a drive-thru emergency room (!)

From mercurynews.com:

“In what is believed to be the first training exercise in the country, a team of health care professionals at Stanford Hospital & Clinics turned the first floor of a parking garage into a drive-through emergency room Friday morning in hopes of creating a more efficient way to treat a large number of patients during an influenza pandemic or other emergency.”

At first glance I chuckled at the concept, but let me ask you emergency nurses out there: is anyone else as sick of the flu season as I am? Isolation rooms, masks, swine flu, patients coughing and spluttering at the triage desk – painful! Perhaps this thing has merit?

“The volunteer patients made their way through the drive-thru triage as though they were being seen at the emergency room. As cars entered the parking garage, patients registered and were given paperwork.
 
They then drove through one of two lines and stopped at the first station, triage, where nurses and emergency department technicians checked for vital signs — temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and respiration — and gathered the patients’ medical backgrounds. Doctors, nurses and other medical staff wore gowns and gloves throughout the exercise.
 
From there, patients drove another 10 to 15 feet for a medical screening exam, where doctors reviewed the symptoms and made a diagnosis. Finally, they were discharged or admitted to the hospital.”

I can think of a thousand things that would have to be fine-tuned to make this concept work. It’s crazy, it’s radical.. but I kind of like the idea (especially in flu season!) Any thoughts?