Florida Hospital Set to Open ER and ICU

TAMPA, Fla. — Florida Hospital Tampa is opening a new emergency room and intensive care unit with a new model of emergency care for patients and families.

The new 42,500-square-foot emergency room is twice the size of the current ER and is scheduled to open in early November. Located in between the Women’s Health Pavilion and the Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute, the new ER will help create a better patient experience by improving patient flow and reducing emergency room wait times.

The $53 million ER will include 48, all-private treatment rooms with accommodations for family members. The $17 million, 22,000-square-foot ICU tower is located directly above the new ER and features 22 private treatment rooms designed to accommodate the patient and family members. It will also include separate adult and pediatric waiting rooms.

“We are honored and excited to make this investment in our community. The new ER and ICU Tower represent so much more than additional bricks and mortar to our campus,” said Brian Adams, Florida Hospital Tampa president and CEO, in a statement. “Not only are we able to offer a new, state-of-the-art building to receive and care for patients at their most critical times of need, but we’ve also completely redesigned our approach to emergency care.”

With the opening of the new ER, the hospital is incorporating a new process, the Doc1stERSM process. This ensures that a board-certified emergency medicine physician sees patients first in an emergency. The hospital said that this type of services pushes typical ER points of contact, such as registration or additional paperwork, to the back of the ER experience, keeping the focus on treating a patient’s emergency.

“Providing quality care for patients, during their most critical time of need is the reason why we’re here; that’s why we’ve completely flipped the ER experience upside down. Seeing the doctor at the beginning of the ER experience will provide faster diagnoses and better outcomes for our patients, which is what the Tampa Bay community deserves.” said Dr. Wenzel Tirheimer, emergency room medical director, Florida Hospital Tampa, in a statement.

The details of the new ER and ICU tower are intentionally designed to improve the patient experience. An earth-tone color palette, glass-blown art in the lobby off-center overhead hallway lighting and nature-centered photography help to create a sense of calm and healing. The new ER also includes dedicated CT, X-ray and ultrasound imaging, along with eight observe-care spaces and four additional treatment and holding spaces.

The new ICU Tower features 22 new patient rooms to care for critical patients, with specific rooms that include built-in patient lifts. These lifts allow ICU staff to transfer patients with physical or neurological disabilities that restrict their movement between a bed and a chair or other similar resting places using hydraulic power, greatly reducing the likelihood of injury.

Florida Hospital serves communities throughout Florida with its 22 campuses and serves more patients each year than any hospital in Florida. More than 100,000 patients stay each year in one of Florida Hospital’s facilities, and the health provider’s hospitals see more than 400,000 emergency cases.