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Urgent Care Center Nurse Leader Catherine Vadasz and Chief of the Urgent Care Service Jeffrey Groeger
Urgent Care Center Nurse Leader Catherine Vadasz and Chief of the Urgent Care Service Jeffrey Groeger

State-of-the-Art Facility Increases Capacity, Enhances Emergency Care and Treatment

In the course of treatment for cancer, some patients may experience complications requiring immediate attention. The recently renovated Urgent Care Center -- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's "emergency room" -- offers medical assistance to its patients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

When an Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center outpatient requires immediate medical assistance, he or she can come to the Urgent Care Center (UCC) for help at any time of the day or night. About half the patients who come to the UCC are treated and then sent home. For the others, who will require hospitalization, the UCC eases the transition to Memorial Hospital. Recently, the UCC was redesigned and relocated to an expanded facility on the first floor of the Enid A. Haupt Pavilion on East 67th Street.

"The UCC's new look and location will make it a more friendly environment for patients and their families," said Catherine Vadasz, Nurse Leader of the UCC

Urgent Care Center Waiting Room
The waiting room provides a more relaxed atmosphere for patients and their families.

The new Urgent Care Center opened to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center patients on August 21 and treated almost 100 patients that day. As Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's patient volume has increased, so has the number of patients admitted for emergencies -- nearly doubling over the last five years. In 2005, there were more than 19,000 patient visits.

"Our new design allows us to improve patient care and be far more innovative with patient flow," explained Jeffrey S. Groeger, Chief of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Urgent Care Service. "We are now able to offer our patients a higher level of first-class urgent care along with increased privacy."

Such improvements are readily apparent to patients and caregivers on arrival at the Urgent Care Center. The waiting room, decorated in soothing green hues with modern artwork on the walls, has seating for 30. Patients are placed in one of two triage rooms, where nurses and physicians can evaluate symptoms and discuss treatment options with them. Patients are then treated in one of 19 examination rooms, each of which has a flat-screen television for patients, computers for use by doctors and nurses, and wireless Internet capability. The UCC also contains two negative-pressure isolation rooms, a procedure room, a transfusion room, and a satellite pharmacy so UCC staff may quickly obtain medications for their patients.

Nursing Stattion in Urgent Care Center
The increased size of the nursing station accommodates up to 15 people.

At the center of the Urgent Care Center is the nurses' station, which seats between 12 and 15 people and reflects an increase in registered nurses from 21 to 31 (while the number of physicians has remained the same, at ten).

"The UCC's new design fulfills the goals of the Urgent Care Service -- to facilitate a seamless approach to acute issues and streamline the quality and expedition of care," Dr. Groeger said.
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