The Gemelli Emergency Room, with over 200 admissions every day, responds to the emergency and urgent needs of an area of more than 1.5 million people. Here they can find a service that is active 24 hours a day thanks to a team made up of four emergency physicians, an orthopedist, a pediatrician, a gynecologist and two radiologists. In addition, neurological, neurosurgical and ENT (ear, nose and throat) consultants are available on an on-going basis, as well as – for 12 hours during the day – ophthalmological consultants.
At the Emergency Room, first aid treatment and surgery is provided to emergency and urgent cases, necessary procedures to resuscitate and stabilize a patient in critical conditions are carried out and tests needed to assess the severity of the case are taken.
In 2015, the service was completely reorganized, going beyond the traditional concept of the exam room. The new organizational and architectural model was created according to the principle of treatment intensity, that allows to “separate” patients who require more intensive treatments than others, thus creating an environment of greater assurance and comfort.
The Gemelli Emergency Room – equipped with a heliport open 24 hours a day, which allows the bigger trauma and medical-surgical emergencies to be transported by helicopter – is a second level DEA (Emergency and Registration Department) and is a point of reference for 7 first level DEA and 6 assistance facilities.
The Bed Manager, implemented by D.G.R. n. 821/2009, is Dr. Gennaro Capalbo, Head of Bed Management.
Furthermore, the Poison Control Center a national point of reference, is open 24 hours a day.
How does the “TRIAGE” Emergency Room work
The Emergency Room is committed to ensure the best assistance based on an appropriate priority criteria: the most urgent cases are treated first.
This system, called triage, follows precise rules and is implemented by a specifically trained nursing staff.
Upon arriving, patients are received by a nurse who gathers their personal information, assesses the complexity of the medical issue and, according to the severity, assigns an admissions priority code marked by a specific color.
The doctor, according to the admissions code, guarantees appropriate answers to each patient’s needs and determines the most appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic procedure.
In more serious cases, and, in any case, when the doctor considers it appropriate, hospitalization is indicated; in other cases, patients can be sent home, to be treated by their family practitioner, or to a specialized clinic. Patients, if necessary, are kept under observation for a short period in order to better assess their medical condition and their future diagnostic-therapeutic therapy.
Obstetric Emergency Room
It is in a separate area from the Central Emergency Room, even though they share equipment and know-how. The Obstetric Emergency Room pays attention and responds to women’s and newborn’s needs for which the Fondazione is developing innovative and state-of-the-art solutions. The structure permits patients to stay for a short period of time, even a few hours, to best resolve issues that could otherwise lead to inappropriate and untimely hospitalizations.
The presence of obstetricians, as well as the specialist doctor, makes visiting patients at the same time easier and more comfortable, making it possible to take part and offer the correct solution to their assistance needs.
Treatment is based on specific guidelines and diagnostic procedures that guarantee assurance to patients who have to enter the Delivery Room (for active labor, rupture of membranes and other situations) and to those patients who have illnesses, that require urgent natural delivery or C-section or close medical monitoring in the ward.
Pediatric Emergency Room
The Policlinico Gemelli has a structure entirely reserved for patients from 0 to 18 years old. The Pediatric Emergency Room has a standard Exam Room, an additional Exam Room, for urgent cases and for isolating highly contagious patients, and an area for Intense Short Observation with two hospital beds for patients who need brief hospitalization (6-36 hours).
Furthermore, the structure has an area reserved for ambulances (warm area that can be open and closed as needed) and for private cars, and a specific triage area. One of the most distinctive characteristics of the Pediatric Emergency Room is the “sedation room”, that is, a room specifically for painlessly sedating patients during medical procedures, limiting children’s anxiety and fear tied to such procedures, including central and peripheral vein insertions, stitches, lumbar punctures and bone marrow aspiration or the reduction of fractures.
A specific internet site, launched in 2018, indicates all the assistance Steps and Procedures that are carried out at the Pediatric Emergency Room: http://pspediatrico.policlinicogemelli.it