Innovative Expansion of The University of Tennessee Medical Center Emergency Department Enhances Patient Care and Experience
(Photo) L to R: Dr. Keith Gray, Dr. James Shamiyeh, Renda Burkhart, Crissy Haslam, Jim Haslam, Natalie Haslam, Dee Haslam, Joe Landsman, Ann Bailey, Steve Bailey, Bill Haslam
December 15, 2023 — The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) proudly announces the expansion of its Emergency Department—a milestone that will further enhance the medical center’s mission, vision and values as the region’s only Level I Trauma Center—delivering excellent care to patients in the East Tennessee community. This innovative expansion project will revolutionize patient experience at the medical center, enabling improvements in efficiency, effectiveness, quality, safety and service.
“Our community depends on our medical center to provide excellent care in life-threatening circumstances—these improvements and additions will better equip us to not only meet those needs, but exceed expectations in delivering an excellent patient experience,” said Joe Landsman, CEO at The University of Tennessee Medical Center. “This emergency department expansion has been made possible by the generous funding of several key individuals and groups—without whom these critical improvements would not happen. The Haslam Family, renowned for their commitment to the community, has donated $10 million to the medical center’s Emergency Department. We are immensely grateful for their support.”
The newly expanded Emergency Department will be renamed The Haslam Family Center for Emergency & Trauma Services in recognition of the generous and critical support the Haslam family has provided to the medical center for this project. The Haslam Family’s gift for this expansion is the single largest philanthropic gift that the medical center has received to date.
“Our family is honored to support this important initiative to expand and improve emergency and trauma care for the East Tennessee community,” said Crissy Haslam of the Haslam Family. “The medical center has and will continue to be the region’s primary destination for the delivery of emergency and trauma care, and we are so pleased to see this expansion break ground—for the good of everyone living and working in our area. It’s truly an honor to partner with the medical center on this project.”
This multi-phased 30,000 square foot expansion will offer transformative care delivery, innovative processes and facility modernization—with an eye to the community’s future healthcare needs including:
- 30 additional patient treatment rooms and 8 new intake rooms
- newly expanded and additional rooms/patient beds will be equipped to better handle potential future pandemic and/or mass casualty events, featuring both negative pressure and a separate entry
- an enhancement of the expansion is the ability to utilize many of the new beds as flex beds for additional capacity
- an expanded 2-story lobby—providing patients a modern, comfortable, safe waiting space
- included will be a dedicated immunocompromised waiting space for added protection to vulnerable patients
- overall intake area will be nearly double the size of the current space
- a redesigned ambulance bay which will be twice the size of the current bay—improving efficiencies with our area partners
- a new, modernized entrance with improved parking and patient access
A core focus of the expansion project will be the medical center’s redesigned approach to emergency and trauma care. Patients will be served in two primary categories: those likely to be admitted and those likely to be discharged. In designing the space and allocating the appropriate clinicians, resources and equipment to serve based on the patients’ expected outcome, providers can offer a more efficient patient experience. A newly created emergency observation unit will also offer improved treatment options for patients not requiring admission but requiring observation—lowering cost of care, improving quality and increasing hospital capacity for our sickest patients.
Additionally, patients’ entry into the medical center will be streamlined with a redesigned, reimagined space and evaluation process aimed at providing treatment more quickly and more effectively. The improvements and upgrades to the emergency department have been designed in collaboration with local EMS partners to better understand their needs and best practices to offer an efficient transfer of knowledge to resume care promptly.
In addition to the Haslam Family gift, the State of Tennessee has awarded the medical center a generous grant. The grant demonstrates the state’s commitment to improving patient care and experience.
The need for funding remains, and the medical center is grateful for the continued participation and support of donors and grantees, enabling the medical center to better serve its patients. For more information, or to contribute, please visit: https://www.utmedicalcenter.org/expansion.