Largest U.S. emergency depts.

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.

hey, this isn't anything super important but more of a curiosity.. i work ER at henry ford hospital in downtown Detroit, MI and today I was talking to one of my charge nurses and asked him how large our ER was/how many beds we could take, and he said 140/150 something i dont remember the exact number but he said "actually we're the second largest ER in the country by 5 beds". well i thought that was pretty cool, and although i know henry ford has a lot of recognition and specialized areas/treatments that few other hospitals in the country have, at the time i didn't even think to ask him how he knew that. so now here i am at home and for whatever reason im on a mission to find out if thats true.. however i've GOOGLED every different wording of the phrase "largest emergency dept. in united states" and have found NOTHING... not even a list of the top 10 hospitals period. where do people come up w/these statistics about "rated in top ten hospitals bla bla" if u can't even find ANYTHING relating to it on the web?

if anyone maybe thinks of a different way to look for this info, or has a website related to that sort of stuff, i'd greatly appreciate it. otherwise i know my mind will be stuck on it until i solve it haha.

thanks everyone in advance!:banghead: :confused:

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It's believable. We opened our new ED in Nov 07 and can handle 250 patients at once in an emergency. Here is one of the articles about our opening http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2007/11/tampa-general-s.html We have had a large expansion project that has been opening in phases since November 07. Our new neuro icu has 32 beds!!!! I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I love working at a teaching hospital the learning opportunities are great!!!

I would think that you would be able to find the information you are looking for on a report that lists how many beds the hopsital has and is certified for, etc. Good Luck!!!!

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Oh yeah, I found the information online about my facility by googling "Hospitals name" detailed hospital profile. Have you tried typing it that way? :D

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Specializes in Med/surg.

Hey Christy, if you want to learn from the best, find my mother Nancy Gibbs and stick to her like glue. You may have had one of her classes. I'm following her footst:up:eps

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, ICU/CCU/NICU, EMS, Transport.

One thing to keep in mind is to make sure you are comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges.

There are 3 numbers as far as bed size goes to tell you your capacity.

1) "Normal" operational load/bed size; this is probably the number of available/staffed ER beds you use day in day out... You should have enough ER department staff on duty to staff these beds.

2) The next level is sometimes called "overflow" capacity. Here you are using your hall beds other areas in/around the ER possibly. This number still must reflect your ability to staff these beds. In other words, it does no good to say you have "X" capacity but you don't have departmental FTE's to staff them

3) This level is your "surge" or "emergency" capacity for short term only until you move pt's out or release to a minor care/holding are (like during a MCI or disaster)....these beds are ALL possible treatment spaces, including blankets or mattresses on floors and isn't limited by staffing or resources. These beds would have on call people or people from other departments to care for them, not just ER staff.

4) Finally, you may be limited by the number of "functional" beds you have by State/Federal reporting guidelines, kind of like how many beds you are licensed for legally.

To give you my example where I work we have

1) "Normal" operating beds: 80

2) "Overflow" beds: 114

3) "Surge"/Disaster: (I'm guessing) probably about 130-140

Hope this helps.

-MB:smokin:

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
Oh yeah, I found the information online about my facility by googling "Hospitals name" detailed hospital profile. Have you tried typing it that way? :D

no i didnt try that yet, good idea though im gonna do it after i post this msg, i'll let u know if it works lol THX

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
Hey Christy, if you want to learn from the best, find my mother Nancy Gibbs and stick to her like glue. You may have had one of her classes. I'm following her footst:up:eps

i can't say that i know her, did she teach at hfcc nursing program or the hfhs one? does she work in the er? i don't know too many people outside of there

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.
Oh yeah, I found the information online about my facility by googling "Hospitals name" detailed hospital profile. Have you tried typing it that way? :D

yeah that didn't help me :( it listed the amount of beds for the entire hosp. and how many were peds/psych etc, oh well i'll keep trying.. i'm on a mission lol

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