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TGH Responds To ER Shortage

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 8, 2007

Anyone who'ss spent hours waiting in the emergency room to see a doctor or been forced to spend a sleepless night in busy corridors waiting to be admitted to the hospital has reason to celebrate the opening of Tampa General Hospital's new emergency and trauma center.

While officials at TGH can't promise short stays for patients and their families every time a medical emergency arises, the 65,000-square-foot emergency center with its 66 private rooms and six trauma rooms promises optimum care for the grievously injured as well as those who are simply sick and scared.

The new ER, on the second floor of a six-story addition that will be completed next year, is twice the size of the old emergency room and is equipped to handle almost any kind of medical emergency. The ward includes mass showers that can decontaminate 200 patients every hour and has the ability to isolate air supplies to specific areas to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

It is built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane and can accommodate three times the normal volume of patients.

The new ER won't solve the complex problems that arise from a system where many patients come to the hospital for primary care, but it should help.

Tampa has long had reason to be proud of Tampa General, a Level 1 trauma center that serves a 12-county region. Now it has even more.

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