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Asthma "Lounge" Wins Award for ACMC

At the California Association of Public Hospitals’ annual conference, ACMC picked up a Management Excellence Award - Honorable Mention for the Asthma Lounge in the Emergency Department at Highland.

asthma lounge Since September of this year, triage nurses in the ED have been able to quickly deliver patients with asthma symptoms to a respiratory therapist waiting inside the ED. Patients spend less time in the waiting room, and the therapists can initiate certain treatments before the patients see a physician. Patients receive the therapy in a comfortable recliner chair with the therapist close at hand, have access to educational materials about their disease, and are referred to a clinic for follow-up care. In the near future the lounge will move to a larger and quieter room inside the Emergency Department.

In conferring the Honorable Mention, CAPH officials noted that the program has resulted in "fewer required respiratory treatments (related to decreased wait time prior to treatment), fewer return ED visits for the patients served, and improved patient satisfaction."

Photo: Lisa Fernandez, nebulizer in hand, gets some asthma advice from Respiratory Therapist Christopher Adgar, RRT

Article from The Pulse, Alameda County Medical Center, Dec. 15, 2006

12.27.06