Baylor Health Care System: The new emergency department at Baylor University Medical Center

	Past Issue: Volume 20, Number 4 • October 2007		Return to Table of Contents
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The new emergency department at Baylor University Medical Center

Dighton C. Packard, MD

Since the article has no abstract, the first 200 words are shown.

Founded as a Christian ministry of healing, Baylor Health Care System exists to serve all people through exemplary health care, education, research, and community service. Nowhere in our system is this mission better served than in the emergency department (ED) of Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC). Thirty years ago we served the community from a small area in the basement of Jonsson Hospital. Soon, the ED will occupy 75,000 square feet of Roberts Hospital (Figure 1).

Over the same 30 years, the practice of emergency medicine has changed significantly. One must now thoroughly work up and evaluate all who come through our doors. There must be objective evidence to admit a patient; judgment is no longer enough. Short-stay hospital admissions have become prolonged ED stays. Twenty-five percent of all Texans have no health care insurance. A much larger percentage has no medical home. There is little opportunity for insured workers to visit their physician without taking time off work, and for many, no work means no pay. Added to this great number of people are those who have emergent medical conditions or trauma, leading to an ever-increasing number of ED patients.