A new text messaging service is making life a little easier for those with EMS jobs at one hospital. Visit http://ambulancejobs.com to learn more.
New Hampshire-based Portsmouth Regional Hospital recently launched a program that allows people to use text messaging in order to avoid long waits at the emergency room. PRH and Parkland Medical Center, located in Derry, N.H., are the first hospitals in the state to use the service.
“This new transparency of ER wait times is a celebration of more than 18-months of work by the ER to improve the speed at which we get the patient to the provider to begin their exam,” the hospital notes in a press release. “We know that Seacoast families are busier than ever and that every minute matters when someone is ill or injured. Our team has worked hard to ensure that patients receive quick attention when they most need it and now patients will have visibility to just how quickly they will be seen by the provider.”
Through the program, anyone planning a trip to the ER can text “ER” to 23000 and will receive a response asking for their ZIP code, and then will receive a specific wait time. However, the text messaging service does not act as a reservation for the patient.
Wait times are updated every 30 minutes and are defined as the time between entering the ER and the beginning of the medical examination from a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner. The technology has been tested by many Hospital Corporation of America-owned hospitals.
Hospital officials have noted that those facing medical emergencies should not use the service and should instead directly call 911. However, anyone planning to use the ER for non-emergency conditions can use the information to better fit the visit into their own schedule.
Check out this recruiting video about Portsmouth Regional Hospital’s new texting program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxFsAxLjMhw