UPMC Passavant and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC Team Up to Offer an Innovative Approach to Pediatric Care

In September 2008, UPMC Passavant– Cranberry celebrated the grand opening of its newly expanded, state-of-the-art Emergency Department. Designed to meet the needs of the area’s growing population, the facility will enable UPMC medical staff to continue to provide the highest quality care to residents of the city’s northern suburbs.

The $9 million project tripled the size of the hospital’s former ED, and increased the number of beds from 12 to 22. Five treatment rooms were also designed specifically to serve the needs of pediatric patients, who will be treated by Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC pediatric physicians in addition to UPMC Passavant physicians.

“Through the expansion of the UPMC Passavant–Cranberry emergency department, we will be better able to provide patients and their families with world-class care within their own community,” says Teresa G. Petrick, president, UPMC Passavant. “As the Cranberry area has grown, we have worked to meet the needs of its residents by adding services and increasing the
size of our facility to better provide them with the health care services they need.” “While we have always treated children in our emergency department, we are enhancing those services through our partnership with Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC,” she adds. “Our goal is to provide families with the best possible care close to home.”

Responding to Community Needs

As one of the fastest growing areas in Pennsylvania, Cranberry continues to attract more people every day. According to Cranberry Township Manager, Jerry Andree, the median age in Cranberry continues to drop, and there are more children per family in Butler County than in surrounding counties. To meet the future needs of this population, the ED at UPMC Passavant–Cranberry was expanded as part of the hospital’s master campus plan. “Currently, we treat over 20,000 patients a year in the ED. With the expansion, our capacity will increase to 40,000,” explains Ravi Vajjhala, MD, director of Emergency Medicine at UPMC Passavant–Cranberry. Since joining UPMC Passavant in 2002, the Cranberry campus has seen its emergency patient volumes increase by more than 104 percent. In addition to a two-bed trauma bay and the specialized pediatric unit, the ED is designed so that all of the beds are similarly equipped so that they can be used in any type of emergency. A separate walk-in entrance has been created at the front of the hospital to allow for quicker access, and the ambulance entrance has been outfitted with specially designed curtains and showers to enable ED staff to deal with hazardous materials emergencies outside the building to lessen the chance of contamination. The main hospital building also has been connected to the building housing the imaging department and Comprehensive Breast Center to make traveling between the two facilities more convenient.

The expanded ED also provides additional space for the hospital’s Stroke Telemedicine System, which was implemented in March 2006. The system uses state-of-the-art videoconferencing technology to link experts at the UPMC Stroke Institute to ED physicians on the Cranberry campus. “When a person begins to show stroke-like symptoms, it’s extremely important to determine if he or she may be a candidate for a clot-dissolving drug,” explains Dr. Vajjhala, who says that damage can be limited if a patient is treated within three hours of the onset of a stroke. “Through the Stroke Telemedicine System, we can provide patients with an immediate assessment, including a CAT scan, and talk to the stroke neurologist at UPMC Presbyterian, who can visually examine the patient to determine if they are a candidate for that particular treatment.” The rooms themselves have been designed to be more comfortable for patients, and include amenities such as televisions in addition to advanced medical equipment. “We now have a much better nursing station, and the size and overall functionality of the ED space have improved markedly,” say Dr. Vajjhala.

Enhancing Care for Children

Of the 20,000 patients currently treated in the ED each year, approximately 25 percent are children. In addition to designating five treatment rooms to pediatric care, UPMC Passavant– Cranberry has added emergency physicians from Children’s Hospital to its staff.

“This is the first time that Children’s Hospital has exported its expert staff to an outlying community emergency room,” says Ms. Petrick, who adds that these specialists will be on-site seven days
a week to treat children during peak pediatric visit times. UPMC Passavant’s Cranberry campus does not admit pediatric patients for overnight stays; these patients, in addition to those with major traumas or injuries, will be routed to Children’s Hospital in Oakland.

“It is the vision of Children’s Hospital to bring pediatric care, including pediatric emergency medicine, out into the community. We want to make our expertise available,” explains Richard Saladino, MD, chief, Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital. “We continue to explore various ways to deliver the highest quality care to children with acute illnesses and injuries throughout our region, as well as provide excellence in service to our patients and referring physicians. “Through this collaboration, Children’s Hospital and UPMC Passavant are committed to providing the best care possible to the families of this region right in their own backyard,” he adds. “The UPMC Passavant–Cranberry ED has been functioning at quite a high level for a number of years; through this collaborative effort, we hope to enhance the care of pediatric patients even further.” Already, Children’s Hospital and UPMC Passavant physicians are treating about 12 pediatric patients a day. UPMC Passavant expects to see an increase in the number of patients served as parents realize the benefits of having specialized pediatric care closer to home. “Adult patients may already know about the high quality of care provided at UPMC Passavant’s Cranberry campus, but they may not know that we’ve now got a dedicated space in which to treat their children,” says Dr. Saladino. “We expect to see more pediatric patients by virtue of this expanded space.” “Through our expanded ED, we will better be able to address all of our populations’ needs,” adds Dr. Vajjhala. “As more families move into the community, we will have the capacity to serve them.”

Emergency Department Expansion Adds to Earlier Infrastructure Improvements

In order to meet the needs of Cranberry’s ever-increasing population, UPMC Passavant– Cranberry has invested millions of dollars to provide the infrastructure needed to keep pace with the rapid expansion. The hospital has grown exponentially since joining UPMC in 2002. As a fully accredited acute care hospital, UPMC Passavant–Cranberry provides the communities of southern Butler County and the surrounding areas with the health care services they’ve come to expect from a UPMC facility. UPMC Passavant–Cranberry currently staffs 35 inpatient beds and offers a myriad of health care services. These include a 24-hour ED, outpatient surgical services, a complete Diagnostic Services Department (including CT scan, MRI, ultrasound, mammography, general and cardiac nuclear medicine and echocardiography), cardiac rehabilitation, a sleep disorder center, and nutritional counseling. In addition, outpatient physical and occupational therapy, speech, and respiratory therapy are offered. An on-site laboratory provides bloodtesting and other lab services for the community. In 2006, UPMC Passavant–Cranberry opened the Comprehensive Breast Center to provide patients with access to state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment and the expertise of a team of clinical experts, including breast and reconstructive surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, and pathologists. In addition to routine screening mammography, the center also offers digital mammography capabilities, as well as computer-aided detection technology and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) testing for patients who require more than routine breast screening. Patients also have access to a number of biopsy procedures, including stereotactic biopsy, ultrasound-guided biopsy, and MRI breast biopsy. UPMC Passavant–Cranberry also opened a new, full-service Comprehensive Imaging Center where patients can take advantage of the latest technology available, including a 16-slice CT scanner. This unit, which provides detailed views of all types of tissues, can be used to diagnose many different kinds of cancer, including lung, liver, and pancreatic cancer, and to guide biopsies and other minimally invasive procedures. Since the new scanner is so fast, most patients have a scan time of less than five minutes. The Imaging Center is also home to two MRI machines, which can be used for orthopaedic, joint, brain, and breast imaging. One of these units, the Siemens Magnetom Espree, features a wider bore than typical MRI machines, allowing patients who are uncomfortable testing in a traditional MRI to be tested more comfortably. Other services available at the imaging center include fluoroscopic and general x-ray; vascular and general ultrasound; and echocardiography. In 2006, UPMC Passavant–Cranberry also enhanced its ability to deal with patients suffering from stroke. Partnering with the UPMC Stroke Institute, the hospital implemented a Stroke Telemedicine System that enables specialists at the institute to evaluate and communicate with patients directly via a remote-controlled camera and computer monitor. The system provides ED physicians at the Cranberry campus with the ability to reach stroke specialists at any time of the day or night, which greatly benefits patients needing an immediate diagnosis. As Pittsburgh’s northern communities continue to grow, so will the services that UPMC Passavant–Cranberry provides to those seeking high quality care right in their own backyard.