Life Midmed Hospital providing patient-centered care in our emergency unit
A serious medical emergency is stressful and traumatic, and it is important to receive the appropriate treatment when you need it most as this could mean the difference between life and death.
Life Midmed Hospital offers a 24/7 emergency unit, managed by MIDDOK 24/7 with comprehensive service offerings, which include a three-bed resuscitation room, wound care clinic and 24-hour doctor on site, as well as an accredited stroke unit. The unit is also supported by a multidisciplinary team of specialists on call to ensure you receive quality treatment should an admission be necessary.
“The emergency unit is normally a complex and stressful environment, where each patient wants immediate attention. Unfortunately the emergency unit doesn’t operate on a first come, first serve basis, but on a prioritization rating, called the Triage system”, said Life Midmed Hospital manager, Hennie Viljoen.
The triage system allows the emergency unit to assess and determine the severity of a patient’s medical condition upon arrival. Critical patients with life threatening medical conditions will be seen immediately by the emergency doctor and are color-coded red. Urgent patients, but not life threatening, are color-coded yellow and may have a waiting time longer depending on the type of patients in the unit at that time.
The green color-coded patients are the non-urgent patients and can have a waiting period of up to four hours before the emergency doctor sees the patient. Patients are regularly assessed to ensure that should their condition change, the emergency unit doctor is informed and treatment provided.
Life Midmed Hospital makes use of external service providers, like the radiology unit and laboratories to assist the emergency doctor to make an accurate diagnosis. The blood results and X-ray report can take up to two hours to be released while the patient is in the emergency unit. Once the outcome has been determined, the patient will either be discharged, admitted to hospital or be transferred to an appropriate facility where treatment can continue.
“Please consult your medical aid and get all the necessary information from them before visiting an emergency unit or a hospital”, said Hennie Viljoen, hospital manager. Some medical aids do have a co-payment on emergency unit visits and many members are not aware of this.
It is also important to understand whether Life Midmed Hospital is a designated service provider for your medical aid and if it is not the case, what the co-payment will be. The emergency unit does not accept health insurances and the members will be treated as private patients.
“The emergency doctors from MIDDOK24/7 are also external service providers and you will receive a separate account from the doctor practice, in addition to your hospital account”, said Hennie Viljoen.
Life remains unpredictable and accidents do happen, but when they do, we are here for you. All patients presented to the emergency unit will be assessed and the appropriate treatment commenced.
For more information on our service offerings or any other queries, please call the emergency unit at Life Midmed Hospital on 013 283 8716.
