Patients should expect shorter stays and enhanced emergency care at a Scranton hospital, thanks to an expansion project being completed today, officials said.
Nurses and physicians at Moses Taylor Hospital today are to begin work in the emergency department's newly constructed wing, capping a three-month-long project that boosts the department's patient capacity by close to 20 percent.
The $500,000 expansion, a dedicated "fast-track" unit, features three emergency treatment rooms, a nursing substation and a patient isolation area.
It's meant to handle non-critical cases more efficiently and decrease the length of a patient's stay, said Ron Ziobro, assistant chief executive officer at Moses Taylor.
The increase in treatment rooms, from 16 to 19, should help health care providers meet the growing demand for emergency services, he said.
Last year, the hospital treated about 34,000 patients, which is "average to above average for a 200-bed hospital," Mr. Ziobro said.
"Ultimately, I think what's going to happen is we are going to see our volumes continue to go up," he said.
Mindi Spear, R.N., the hospital's director of critical care services, said the fast-track unit contains all the technology found in the main ER, including an electronic map of the entire department that allows nurses to monitor incoming patients.
"They (care providers) can see a global picture of what's going on in the department," Ms. Spear said.
The half-million-dollar investment is part of Community Health Systems Inc.'s commitment to improve health care in Northeast Pennsylvania, officials said. After purchasing the hospital in 2012, the Franklin, Tenn.-based company committed to invest at least $60 million over the next several years for capital improvements.
Despite the expansion at Moses Taylor, Commonwealth Health spokesman Jim McGuire said Regional Hospital of Scranton - another Commonwealth Health hospital just blocks away - will continue to provide emergency services.
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