Emergency Department
The nationwide average length of stay for patient visiting the emergency department is over 4 hours. At Southwest Regional Medical Center, we have cut our average length of stay to just a little over 2 hours. We have accomplished this by implementing the best technology to serve you and by striving to have each patient initially seen by a healthcare professional within 30 minutes. The Waiting (Less) Room 30 minute guarantee began in March 2010 and guarantees patients will be seen by a healthcare professional within 30 minutes.
Southwest Regional Medical Center also has an agreement with Emergency Resource Management Inc. (ERMI). ERMI, part of UPMC, is one of the largest employers of emergency medicine physicians in Pennsylvania. All physicians and mid-level providers at Southwest Regional are provided by ERMI.
Altogether, ERMI serves approximately 475,000 patients each year. As an affiliate of UPMC, ERMI provides access to invaluable resources, quality, expertise and stability. With a national shortage of emergency physicians, many community-based hospitals are looking to the economies of scale offered by management partners such as ERMI.
“Partnering with ERMI offers residents of the region access to highly skilled UPMC physicians right in their own back yard,” said Cindy Cowie, Chief Executive Officer for Southwest Regional Medical Center. “This relationship will provide us with long-term stability in the department.”
The emergency department at Southwest Regional Medical Center treats over 24,000 patients each year. The emergency department has eight treatment rooms with immediate access to laboratory testing and diagnostic services, which range from x-ray to CT exams. Many patients with conditions serious enough to require admission are able to receive care at Southwest Regional. The inpatient services consist of 31 medical/surgical beds, five Intensive Care Unit beds, a 15-bed Surgical Care Unit and 26 behavioral health beds.