Emergency Center
Baptist Medical Center Downtown

To serve the emergency care needs of the Northeast Florida region, Baptist Medical Center Downtown and Wolfson Children's Hospital operate the Southbank's only adult Emergency Center and the region's only Children's Emergency Center, serving more than 100,000 patients each year.

Included in the Baptist Downtown Emergency Center is a fully staffed nursing station, 40 cardiac-monitored beds, and an eight-bed unit dedicated to the testing and diagnosis of cardiac problems. Heart stress testing is performed in this cardiac unit within the Emergency Center. Baptist Heart Hospital is located adjacent to the Emergency Center, offering patients with heart conditions immediate access to services such as the cardiac catheterization laboratory.

Technology that improves efficiency includes:

• Computerized systems for charting and patient flow
• A computerized X-ray system to allow physicians to view X-rays via computer
• Online placement of medical orders

Life Flight Emergency Air Ambulance
Life Flight provides rapid air transport of critically ill and injured patients. Using a two-engine helicopter, Life Flight is outfitted as a self-contained critical care unit with equipment for advanced life support and offers medical treatment of the whole spectrum of emergency conditions. The helicopter is available 24 hours a day for patients within a 150-mile radius of Baptist Downtown. The flight crew is comprised of a flight nurse and paramedic who have years of critical care, pre-hospital and emergency medicine experience. A state-of-the-art helipad on the roof of Baptist Heart Hospital connects patients with the Emergency Center via direct elevator access. Life Flight is the only local air ambulance service to be accredited by the Commission on the Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems.

 
Fast Track
The 10-bed Fast Track area within the Emergency Center specializes in the care of urgent (non-life-threatening) conditions. This specialization matches the patient to the staff and facilities geared to test and diagnose the condition. The Fast Track hours are 9 a.m. - 1 a.m. (the next morning). From 1 a.m. - 9 a.m. when Fast Track is closed, all patients are treated by the Emergency Center staff.

Urgent Care
An additional option for patients requiring urgent, but not emergency, medical care is Baptist Urgent Care, located in Lakewood and Arlington. A Baptist Urgent Care office is open every night until 10:00 and on weekends (hours vary at each location).

Staffing
When you visit any of the Baptist Medical Emergency Centers, you will find highly qualified staff ready to serve you. All of the nurses are Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) certified. Board-certified emergency physicians also staff the Emergency Centers at the Beaches, Nassau and Downtown locations.

All the physicians who specialize in treating children in the Children's Emergency Center (adjacent to the adult Emergency Center) are board certified in pediatric emergency care, with special training in pediatrics. The Wolfson Children's Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit staff is called to the Children's Emergency Center in order to assist with the care of critically ill or injured children.

Psychiatric Evaluations
Baptist Medical Center Downtown is the only facility in Northeast Florida that provides Emergency Center psychiatric evaluations. Registered nurses and master's-level mental health evaluators provide level-of-care evaluations 24 hours a day. The staff makes referrals or admissions based on the patient's psychiatric needs identified while in the Emergency Center.

Registration
The registration process is designed to accommodate the patient's condition. "Quick Registration," which involves obtaining basic identification information, can be performed at the same time as the triage nurse is gathering health information. With the use of mobile computers, the gathering of financial and insurance information can be done at bedside.