Abu Dhabi, 2 June 2010 (WAM) - The Emergency Services Institute of Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) managed by Cleveland Clinic has seen the millionth patient in May 2010 since its opening in March of 2000. SKMC is part of the SEHA HealthSystem and is owned and operated by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company PJSC (SEHA), which is responsible for the curative activities of all the public hospitals and clinics in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
The Emergency Services Institute is comprised of the Divisions of Adult Emergency, Pediatric Emergency, and Urgent Care Medicine and the seventy eight physicians and one hundred and seventy nurses providing services in four separate facilities spread over the city of Abu Dhabi. The facilities making up the Institute are SKMCs Emergency Department located on the ground floor of the Surgical Pavilion, Khalidiyah Urgent Care Center, and Al Ettihad and Al Madina walk-in clinics. The Khalidiyah Urgent Care Center was inaugurated in February 2008 to provide care for patients with non- emergent conditions. It is open 24/7 as is SKMCs Emergency Department. Al Ettihad and Al Madina walk-in clinics were merged under the Emergency Services Institute in the last quarter of 2009. They currently open from 8:00 am until 12:00 midnight, 7 days/week. In the future, these two walk-in clinics will be transformed into Urgent Care Centers similar to Khalidyah Urgent Care Center. Of the one million patients treated, 675,000 were seen from March 2000 until May 2010 in SKMCs Emergency Department. The Emergency Department is the trauma center for Abu Dhabi city and provides around the clock care to adult and pediatric patients. The department consists of 44 treatment spaces, ten of which are allocated to pediatric emergency care. Another 190,000 patients were seen in Central Hospital Emergency which was operational under the management of SKMCs Emergency Services Institute from January 2005 until February 2008. It was closed on 7 February 2008 and demolished three months later. At the same time, a modern high-tech Urgent Care Center located in Al Khalidiyah area was officially inaugurated on 1 February 2008. Since, then the center has been visited by more than 100,000 patients. In Madina and Ettihad walk-in clinics, 35,000 patients were seen in the 10 month period since the clinics were absorbed by SKMCs Emergency Services Institute. Dr. Murray Van Dyke, Chairman of SKMCs Emergency Services Institute stated, "SKMC Emergency Department receives the vast majority of ambulance traffic from the Abu Dhabi Police Ambulance Service on the island of Abu Dhabi. Additionally, the hospital has a helipad located a short distance from the Emergency Department for receipt of aero-medical evacuations. The consultant staff of the Institute are all board certified or fellowship trained in Emergency Medicine through their respective colleges in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Our staff actively participate in medical education and training and have close links with the Advanced Skills Training Center of SKMC."Dr. Tej Maini, CEO of SKMC stated, "Our Emergency Services Institute of SKMC provides a full spectrum of services to the Abu Dhabi Island as well as the Abu Dhabi Emirate and the region. We are known to be the Trauma Center of Excellence and we manage a dedicated Pediatric Emergency area. It is worth mentioning that SKMC was accredited by the Society of Chest Pain Centers as a Cycle III Chest Pain Center, the only healthcare organization categorized as Cycle lll outside the USA and the 12th worldwide, for its emergency and cardiac services.""According to our patient satisfaction surveys, 84% of our patients rate their visit to our Emergency Department as satisfied. This compares favorably with patient satisfaction benchmarks from most Western healthcare organizations. Any emergency situation is by its very nature unpleasant. People are in pain, uncomfortable, frightened and impatient. When you treat a million people, you are open to criticism by some we could not satisfy. We have received complaints on emergency services but from less than 0.1 % of the total number of patients seen in the Emergency Department and Urgent Care Center which is comparably lower than international benchmarks", Dr. Maini added From her side, Dr. Kathleen Van Effen, the Emergency Medicine Consultant who saw the first patient at SKMCs Emergency Department on 28 February 2000 said, "I can still remember that first day when we opened the doors of the Emergency Department to the public. We had just a few nurses and two physicians on duty, as we eagerly awaited that first patient. We were anxious at that time about the procedures in a brand new hospital with brand new staff from different countries. However, the staff were professionals and everything went smoothly. Some of the staff from those first few days and weeks are still in the Emergency Department until today and it makes us feel proud to see the continuous growth and expansion we have experienced over the past ten years." "Over the million patient visits, we have had the opportunity to see children and families grow as they return to the Emergency Department for their urgent healthcare needs. I have also seen the Emergency Department, and now Urgent Care, staff grow and develop into a team of which I am proud to be a member," Dr. Van Effen added. Dr. Alain Houde was also among the group of emergency consultants hired at SKMC in 2000. Dr. Houde commented, "I have maintained contact with colleagues in Canada and realized that the quality of the staff, the equipment, and the facilities provided by SKMC place SKMCs Emergency Services Institute on par with some of the best emergency departments in Canada and world-wide. Continuous efforts to meet patient care expectations and to improve the education and skills of our physicians and nurses have helped SKMCs Emergency Services Institute make the progress that we have witnessed over this past decade. We look forward to the future and to the opportunity to further improve emergency care for the population of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi."Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2010.
