Vanderbilt Hospital: Emergency Room Availability And Services

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Emergency Department offers 24/7 care and is the only adult and pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center in Middle Tennessee, providing the highest level of care for serious and life-threatening conditions. The department is deeply committed to providing high-quality, compassionate care for patients with acute illnesses and injuries, with a unique opportunity to train, research, and care for patients. It also offers emergency behavioral healthcare through its Psychiatric Assessment Service.

Vanderbilt Emergency Department offers 24/7 care

The Vanderbilt Emergency Department in Nashville, Tennessee, offers 24/7 emergency care to thousands of patients each year. It is Nashville's only academic medical centre with a Level 1 Trauma Centre, Burn Centre, Stroke Centre, and LifeFlight service. The Vanderbilt Burn Centre is a Level 1 unit, providing the highest level of burn care for adults and paediatric patients. The Vanderbilt Emergency Department also offers emergency behavioural healthcare through its Psychiatric Assessment Service.

The department offers the highest level of care for serious and potentially life-threatening conditions. It is the only adult and paediatric Level 1 Trauma Centre in Middle Tennessee, delivering the most advanced emergency care available. Trauma patients who are brought to the centre alive have a 95% chance of survival. The department is committed to providing high-quality, compassionate care for patients with acute illnesses and injuries. It also offers a unique opportunity to train and conduct research while caring for patients.

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center Emergency Department has a mission of “personalizing the patient experience through our caring spirit and distinctive capabilities”. The centre engaged Blue Cottage of CannonDesign to complete an Emergency Department Operational Study to better serve the expanding community of Nashville and improve efficiency through operational changes. The study focused on creating real results that could help increase capacity and flow within the Emergency Department.

The Vanderbilt Emergency Department works with experts in other medical disciplines to ensure a smooth path for patients who need hospital admission for further care. They offer a full range of tests, treatments, and services.

Nashville's only Level 1 Trauma Centre

The Vanderbilt Emergency Department in Nashville, Tennessee, is Nashville's only academic medical centre with a Level 1 Trauma Centre. It also has a Burn Centre, Stroke Centre, and LifeFlight service. The centre offers 24/7 emergency care to thousands of patients each year. It is the only adult and paediatric Level 1 Trauma Centre in Middle Tennessee, providing the most advanced emergency care available.

The Vanderbilt Burn Centre is a Level 1 unit, offering the highest level of burn care for adults and paediatric patients. The emergency department team works with experts in other medical disciplines to ensure a smooth path for patients who need hospital admission for further care.

The centre treats over 8,000 people annually, with more than 4,800 acute (life-threatening) trauma patients from Middle Tennessee and surrounding areas across the Southeast. It has been verified as a Level 1 Trauma Centre by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) for over 30 years. This is the highest designation for trauma care in the nation.

The centre serves as a referral and resource hub, offering outreach programs, continuing education, and ongoing research to maintain the most advanced level of care for trauma patients. It provides care at several levels of intensity to meet patients' needs, including a burn unit, an intensive care unit, and a step-down unit.

Psychiatric Assessment Service

The Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital (VPH) is a dedicated psychiatric emergency room located on the first floor of the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital in Nashville, TN. The Psychiatric Assessment Service (PAS) unit provides care for adult patients aged 18 and over who are being treated for behavioural health crisis needs. The PAS unit is unique in that it is also responsible for all ages and patients admitted to the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital from a multitude of referral sources. The PAS unit offers immediate help in situations including suicide attempts/thoughts of suicide, depression, anxiety, unusual or unrealistic thinking, physical and/or sexual abuse, and drug or alcohol abuse. The PAS unit is staffed by highly trained mental health professionals who work together to ensure comprehensive, personalised care for patients. Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital also provides services for children and adolescents through its Child Unit, which serves young patients with mood disorders, psychotic disorders, PTSD, severe ADHD, and anxiety disorders. During their PGY 1 year, residents spend two months in child and adolescent psychiatry, participating in treatment planning meetings and educational seminars for the Child and Adolescent Fellowship.

The PAS unit is at the forefront of psychiatric emergency care and is one of the few stand-alone psychiatric units in the country to accept psychiatric emergency walk-ins. The unit's environment is fast-paced and ever-changing, with each patient's mental health needs being unique. The PAS unit's model is holistic, patient-centred, evidence-based, safe, and trauma-informed, aiming to break down the stigma surrounding mental health care. The unit's nurses are tenacious, strong communicators, empathetic, and adaptable to unknown situations. New nurses are oriented to the unit by shadowing different roles within PAS to understand the interdisciplinary team's functioning.

The Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital's team addresses the acute detoxification of patients and the assessment and treatment of co-morbidities. Daily rounds are held with input from nursing, social services, occupational therapy, and other involved staff. Milieu and multidisciplinary understanding and treatment of patients are emphasised, along with psychosocial and biological perspectives on illness. Supportive short-term psychotherapy, group psychotherapy, family/couple assessments, and social assessment/intervention are also integral to the hospital's approach.

The hospital offers adult walk-in crisis care and accepts patients through the adult and pediatric emergency rooms during all hours, coordinating referrals from various agencies and programs.

Highest-level burn care

The Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, has an emergency department that offers 24/7 care. It is the only academic medical centre in Nashville with a Level 1 Trauma Centre, Burn Centre, Stroke Centre, and LifeFlight service. The Vanderbilt Burn Centre is a Level 1 unit, offering the highest level of burn care for adults and paediatric patients.

Burn injuries are a type of tissue damage caused by extreme temperatures, chemicals, friction, electricity, or radiation. They are classified into first-, second-, and third-degree burns, depending on the depth and severity of skin penetration. First-degree burns affect only the epidermis, or outer layer of the skin, causing redness, pain, and dryness without blisters. Mild sunburn is an example of a first-degree burn. Second-degree burns involve the epidermis and part of the dermis layer of skin, resulting in redness, blistering, swelling, and pain. Third-degree burns are the most severe, destroying the epidermis and dermis, and sometimes damaging underlying bones, muscles, and tendons. The burn site appears white or charred, and the patient experiences a loss of sensation due to nerve damage.

The treatment and rehabilitation of burn injuries aim to meet the complex physical, medical, and emotional needs of the patient. Burn rehabilitation starts during the acute treatment phase and may last from days to months or even years, depending on the severity of the burn. The goals of burn rehabilitation include helping the patient regain function and independence, improving their quality of life, and providing emotional support. This may include counselling to address common emotional responses during recovery, such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia.

The Vanderbilt Burn Center, as a Level 1 unit, is equipped to provide the highest level of burn care. Their team is dedicated to ensuring a smooth path for patients requiring hospital admission and further care. They offer a comprehensive range of tests, treatments, and services to meet the diverse needs of burn patients.

Patient-centred, with a focus on safety and experience

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center Emergency Department is committed to providing patient-centred care with a focus on safety and experience. The department offers 24/7 care and is Nashville's only academic medical centre with a Level 1 Trauma Centre, Burn Centre, Stroke Centre, and LifeFlight service. It also provides emergency behavioural healthcare through its Psychiatric Assessment Service.

The Vanderbilt Emergency Department strives to provide a personalised patient experience through its caring spirit and distinctive capabilities. It aims to decrease boarding times and improve throughput and efficiency through operational changes. The department also offers a full range of tests, treatments, and services, working collaboratively with experts in other medical disciplines to ensure a smooth path for patients requiring hospital admission.

The Vanderbilt Burn Centre is a Level 1 unit, offering the highest level of burn care for adults and paediatric patients. The centre is dedicated to meeting the complex physical, medical, and emotional needs of burn treatment and recovery. The department is the only nationally verified Level 1 adult trauma centre in Middle Tennessee, providing the most advanced emergency care available. Trauma patients who arrive at the centre alive have a 95% chance of survival.

The department's mission is to discover and teach how to treat each patient with dignity and respect and to deliver this care consistently. It advocates passionately for its patients and aims to transform emergency care through discovery and innovation. Vanderbilt's focus on patient-centred care extends beyond the individual to include the community, engaging with community partners to co-develop solutions to healthcare system challenges.

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