How long does it take for an OBHG program to make a difference? In less than one week, Mercy Hospital Fort Smith is already seeing positive impacts of the hospital’s new obstetric emergency department easing tension off the main emergency department.
In its first week of operation, the hospital’s new obstetrics emergency department is already making a difference. Prior to the opening of Mercy’s obstetrics ED, pregnancies less than 20 weeks in gestation were previously sent to the main emergency department, which is always very busy. The obstetrics ED has taken some of the load of the main emergency department
“It’s decompressed the main ER by quite a bit, and we’ve seen several, a handful of women, who were less than 20 weeks that would normally have been seen in the main ER,” said Dr. Andrew Riché, the chief of staff for Mercy Hospital Fort Smith.
According to an article in the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith, when a brilliant idea comes along, a common response is, “Why didn’t that happen sooner?” With the creation of the obstetric emergency department at Mercy Hospital, as well as a clinic focused on follow-up care for indigent patients, the Times Record says “we can only be thankful that it has happened here.”
Read more about the new OB hospitalist program at Mercy Hospital Fort Smith here and learn more about how the program is taking pressure off the main emergency department here.