RMH receives the 2017 Women’s Choice Award® as one of America’s Best Hospitals for Emergency Care

Pictured Above Left to Right: Grady Thiems, MD; Sean Fulton, MD; Dustin Keffer, DO;
Megan DeSpain, DO; Sara Cross, MD; John Bradley, DO; Benham Raisdana, DO; Beau Butherus, MD
Not pictured: Rebecca Messerli, MD; James Mitts, DO; James Obermeyer, MD; Arman Saber, MD; Todd Schott, DO

Ransom Memorial Hospital (RMH) has been named one of America’s Best Hospitals for Emergency Care by the Women’s Choice Award®, America’s trusted referral source for the best in healthcare.

“This is awarded to the top hospitals in the country based on emergency care. Our physician group prides itself on providing best practice care to every patient with every visit. We are proud to serve the community and honored to receive this recognition,” said Dr. Sara Cross, Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physician.

This award is unique in that it combines Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey results as a reflection of customer service with primary research about women’s healthcare preferences. The award also recognizes excellence in emergency care based on several areas which focus on the amount of time patients spend in the emergency department, including:

• Time to admission
• Wait time to see a doctor
• Time to pain management
• Time to diagnosis (stroke and chest pain/heart attack)

“Emergency departments can be very stressful environments, particularly for the elderly or a mother with a sick or injured child,” said Delia Passi, founder and CEO of the Women’s Choice Award. “Women make over 80% of (the household) healthcare decisions and want to be confident that they know which emergency departments in their communities will take care of their loved ones quickly and with the best possible care.”

“This award recognizes the hard work of our Emergency Care team and their dedication to the RMH mission of providing high quality care to the community,” said Stacy Steiner, Senior VP Chief Clinical Officer.

Dorothy Rice, Director of Performance Improvement, said RMH was in the top 5.5 percent of the 3,725 hospitals eligible for the award. Rice was not surprised the hospital won the award. “Our emergency department is awesome,” she said. “We focus on quality from every aspect.” Seconds count and the Women’s Choice award is based on the criteria of timeliness. In the fourth quarter of 2016, RMH had a 12-minute average from the time the patient arrived at the door to seeing a doctor. “That is what patients want. You can’t beat that in any other emergency department,” Rice said.

Angela Welch, Director of Emergency Department stated “This award reinforces the level of care patients receive in the emergency room. The numbers are truly the most honest depiction of what happens on every visit. ‘In and out’ is very important, but vitally important is the care the patient receives in that time span. We want to make sure we give appropriate care and exceed expectations,” Welch said. Two years ago, RMH changed their model of emergency care from Family Practice Physicians to Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physicians. “It brought a new level of care to the community,” she said. “We went from a basic level to a more advanced level.”

Cross said “In the past two years, the volume of emergency room patients has increased, and so have the number of staff members. We see birth to death. We care for all types of illness and trauma.”

Welch said, “Time is an important measure for emergency care. We like to say ‘time is muscle when it comes to the heart and time is brain on strokes,” she said. “The longer you wait, the greater possibility of damage. To provide care in the emergency department, nurses and physicians are required to have specialized training and certification in emergency medicine.

“Not everybody gets to go to work every day and say they can save a life. Our team does have that ability. Our physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, radiology and lab techs, clerks, and all other Emergency Medical Services personnel work together to give our patients the best possible care,” Cross said.

The new 16,000 square foot addition to the northwest corner of the Emergency Department will feature 12 treatment rooms with the ability to flex up to 14 exam rooms, which includes two critical care treatment rooms and two trauma rooms. Welch said the new wing will nearly double the bed space from seven to 12.

Please join us for the Emergency Department open house to be scheduled in the Fall of 2017. For the upcoming date and progress, follow us on social media or visit www.ransom.org.