Streamlining Your Visit May 23, 2003 Streamlining Your Emergency Department Visit A visit to the emergency department is seldom a happy experience. You or someone close to you is probably there to receive treatment for an accident or an unexpected, serious medical event. Van Haygood, Emergency Department Director at Catawba Valley Medical Center, offers some common-sense advice on how to make your visit less stressful and allow CVMC to better serve you. Have only one or two family or friends to accompany you to the Emergency Department. Because of the size of our waiting and treatment rooms, we request a maximum of two visitors at a time. Bring all of your current medications to the Emergency Department with you, including the dose and the frequency with which you take it. Be prepared to share with us the names of all of your doctors, as well as information about your immunization, TB and tetanus status. Please bring along your insurance information. Make and keep a list of your allergies to foods, airborne substances and latex. It would also be helpful to include how each of these allergies affect you. Emergency room personnel will also ask other questions about your medical history and may ask about the medical histories of your immediate family—parents and grandparents—including cause of death, and their ages at that time. Consider trying common-sense treatments at home before visiting the Emergency Department. For example, over-the-counter medications may lower a child’s fever. Try to leave children, the elderly, or those with compromised immunity at home or with friends or family members to prevent their exposure to illness. Do not assume you will be admitted to the medical center. Please make sure you have a ride home. Cell phones may NOT be used in the Emergency Department due to their possible interference with cardiac monitoring equipment. If you are a patient waiting in the Emergency Department, please don't eat or drink anything since this can interfere with, or postpone, your care. Be prepared to answer personal questions about yourself and your lifestyle. All of this information will be kept in the strictest of confidence and used only in conjunction with your care. If you have needs, please alert the emergency room staff. It will then be our goal and pleasure to meet your expectations in every way possible. Catawba Valley Medical Center is a not-for-profit healthcare system providing and promoting the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventative medicine and acute care. It was recently designated as the thirty-second Magnet facility in the nation and the second in the Carolinas.