Emergency Department
The Emergency Department at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is a Level I Adult and Pediatric Trauma Center that provides excellent emergency healthcare for all types of injuries and illnesses, from life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks or strokes to flu and viral illnesses.
Our expert triage team accesses each patient as they walk in the door, so wait times are 0 minutes for potentially life-threatening conditions such as chest pain, stroke, etc.
About 1 in 4 patients are sick enough to be admitted to the hospital and more than 50 percent of patients need X-rays, scans, blood work or IV therapy.
Our team consists of more than 30 board-certified emergency physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, experienced emergency nurses, sexual assault nurse examiners, forensic nurse examiners, social workers, case managers and other specially trained staff.
We provide state-of-the-art, round-the-clock expert care to over 100,000 patients a year. The department has 68 beds with an additional 14 beds in our Clinical Decision Unit.
Four distinct areas make up the emergency department:
Acute Care area has 36 beds for patients who have serious illnesses and injuries. All of the beds have cardiac, blood pressure and respiratory monitors. Trauma patients and chest pain patients are referred to this area.
Fast Track area has 8 beds for patients with minor injuries and illnesses. It is open noon-midnight daily. Patients are often triaged here for important but less serious illnesses and injuries.
Pediatric Emergency department has 24 beds dedicated to providing quality care to our pediatric patients. Open 24 hours a day, the unit is staffed with pediatric attending physicians, resident physicians, and experienced emergency pediatric nurses.
Our Clinical Decision Unit allows us to move patients out of the emergency department and into an area dedicated to their specialized needs. For example, if a patient arrives with chest pain and a heart attack is ruled out, then he/she may be moved to the Clinical Decision Unit for further testing and evaluation. This allows us to keep patients moving through the Emergency Department, decreasing the length of time patients have to wait and allows our experts to explore other issues that might be causing the patient's initial discomfort.