Washington Regional Medical Center

Programs: Ancillary support services: services offered in 2016 by washington regional medical center included surgery, recovery, labor and delivery, central supply, iv therapy, laboratory, radiology and special imaging, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. A number of these services were available as outpatient services. Washington regional medical center also offered pulmonary rehabilitation and diabetic education programs, a sleep disorders center, a wound care clinic, and outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. Washington regional's surgery service performed 8,561 inpatient and outpatient surgeries. The central services department provided 1,890,417 supply items to patients being treated. Laboratory tests performed totaled 753,332. Radiology diagnostic procedures that included items such as x-rays, ct scans, ultrasound, cardiac catheterization, and nuclear images totaled 127,291 procedures. Washington regional also performed 5,168 magnetic resonance imaging scans. The pharmacy sold patients 2,963,258 items, and respiratory therapy performed tests and treatments totaling 615,923 relative values. The wound care center performed 13,803 treatments. Pastoral care, case management, and volunteer services were offered at no cost to patients. Our chaplains, who worked closely with local ministers, served as liaisons between patients and their faith groups to provide spiritual and emotional support when needed. Case management helped patients and families locate community resources, home care, and financial assistance when needed after leaving the hospital.

general inpatient services: washington regional medical center is committed to providing a wide range of services to meet the general healthcare needs of its service population. General inpatient services in 2016 included internal medicine, geriatric health, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, intensive care, coronary intensive care, oncology, and orthopedics. Also included in general inpatient services are nursing services, nursing education, admissions services, medical records, quality assurance, case coordination, and central scheduling. In 2016 washington regional opened a five-story, 130,000-square-foot women and infants center. In addition to private rooms for gynecology patients and pediatrics patients, the women and infants center also offers 13 triage stations, 17 labor & delivery rooms, four operating rooms, 28 private mother-baby rooms, a 34-bed neonatal intensive care unit and a dedicated pharmacy. The nicu includes private patient rooms that let parents stay with their baby; some of these rooms are specially equipped for twins and multiples. The nicu floor also features the angel eye camera system as well as a milk lab staffed by technologists specially trained in infant nutrition. A ronald mcdonald house on the top floor of the women and infants center provides a special place for families to find the support and comfort they need, just steps away from their hospitalized child or newborn. Washington regionals second helipad is located on the center rooftop, providing efficient access for medical helicopters. Washington regional continued to provide "intensivists" - physicians who specialize in caring for critically ill patients in the medical center's critical care unit. Staffed by physicians from our pulmonology team, these highly trained and experienced medical specialists coordinated the care provided by nurses, respiratory therapists and others as needed by the patient. They provided continuous clinical assessment and addressed even the most subtle changes in clinical conditions. At washington regional, hospitalists, physicians who specialize in caring for hospitalized patients, were on site to provide ongoing and immediate care. In 2016 washington regional provided 18 hospitalists to our community. They worked as partners with our physicians and nursing staff to provide the highest standard of care during a patient's hospital stay. They were able to modify treatment or follow up on a test result on the spot, instead of waiting until the next day. This hands-on approach has been shown to not only help prevent medical complications, but also reduce hospital stays and lower costs. Washington regional medical center maintained its advanced certification for primary stroke centers. The centers for disease control and prevention reports a higher incidence of survival and recovery for stroke patients receiving care at primary stroke centers compared to those treated in hospitals without this type of specialized care. And, as part of its participation in a nationwide clinical trial, in 2016 washington regional became the first in northwest arkansas to implant the barostim neo device in a patient with heart failure. The study is designed to determine whether the device can help patients live longer, reduce hospital stays, and improve quality of life. Overall, washington regional had 15,000 acute admissions in 2016 and provided 60,653 days of inpatient acute care. (this included 11,231 intensive care days and cardiac critical care days. ) the average length of an inpatient hospital stay in 2016 was 4. 04 days. There were 1,512 babies born at washington regional in 2016, and 4,081 days of nursery care provided.

emergency services: washington regional's emergency physicians and staff, backed by the resources of more than 458 physicians on the medical staff, provided medical services to 56,839 patients in 2016. Washington regionals emergency department provided services regardless of patients' ability to pay. Washington regional continued its partnership with arkansas saves (stroke assistance through virtual emergency support) to provide lifesaving emergency care for stroke patients. The program uses a high-tech video communications system that enables wrmc emergency physicians and stroke neurologists from the university of arkansas for medical sciences to administer lifesaving treatments 24 hours a day. Also, as an accredited chest pain center, washington regional ensured that patients who arrive at the hospital with chest pain or other heart attack symptoms receive the rapid treatment necessary during the critical window of time when the integrity of the heart muscle can be preserved. Washington regional has been an accredited chest pain center with primary pci since 2010, but in 2016 washington regional became the first hospital in arkansas to received full accreditation from the society of cardiovascular patient care as a chest pain center with primary pci and resuscitation. Physicians and staff also provided a public service by responding to news media requests for community health information such as accident prevention, emergency management and avoiding weather-related illnesses. The emergency department is capable of providing care for as many as 70,000 patient visits annually with its 41 treatment rooms and in 2016 maintained level 2 trauma center designation from the arkansas department of health. As the area's only level 2 trauma center, washington regional provides the highest level of emergency care in the northwest arkansas region.