The Phoenix Children’s Hospital is gearing up to unveil its new, $40 million Emergency Department and Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center to the public on Sept. 20.
The 42,000-square-foot addition is more than tripling the children’s hospital’s emergency capacity from 23 to 75 private exam rooms, allowing the Phoenix Children’s Hospital to treat 100,000 patients yearly.
Az Business magazine was given a behind the scenes tour of the hospital’s latest additions.
Video shot and edited by Jesse A. Millard
The Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s original Emergency Department was only able to accommodate 22,000 patients on a yearly basis, while the hospital has been treating nearly four times that many patients each year with more than 83,000 annual patients coming to the Emergency Department.
Compared to the previous Emergency Department, this new addition to the hospital is situated so patients can be transferred from the helipad to a trauma bay in less than 90 seconds.
This new facility will ultimately help boost the speed and level of emergency and trauma care the hospital provides to its patients.
During the design process, the Children’s Hospital utilized feedback from the parents of patients. Through this feedback, the design of the new Emergency Department reflects concerns around privacy, and efficiency.
There are two corridors within the emergency department that lead to the patient care areas. One corridor is for family and visitors only, while the other corridor is for doctors, nurses and staff. The patient and family corridor doesn’t have any windows into the care rooms, to better protect the privacy of patients and their families.
There are also separate discharge and emergency vehicle areas, so patients can get in and out of the hospital’s emergency department easier, compared to its previous emergency department.
For children between the ages of one and 16, traumatic injuries are the leading cause of death, according to The Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Its trauma care has one of the lowest mortality rates in the country, the hospital reports.
This Emergency Department will help the Phoenix Children’s Hospital meet the demand from Arizona’s children. The population of children in the greater Phoenix region is expected to grow from one million children to 1.5 million children by 2030, according to the hospital.