Germany – Technical services – Erweiterung und Umbau der Zentralen Notaufnahme zum Integrierten Notfallzentrum (INZ) Elisabeth Klinikum Schmalkalden

The Elisabeth Klinikum Schmalkalden, with 164 beds and six specialist departments, is a hospital providing basic and standard care with regional and supra-regional supply obligations. Approximately 250 employees care for more than 8,500 inpatients and around 20,000 outpatients annually. The current structural layout and pathways have remained unchanged since the commissioning of emergency care in the 1990s, making them outdated and no longer in line with guidelines. Therefore, the current Central Emergency Department is being expanded and converted into an Integrated Emergency Centre. With the available grant funds, a uniform, clear, and resource-efficient first point of contact for all outpatients and inpatients, as well as emergency services, is to be created. The structural changes are intended to improve workflows throughout the hospital. A shared counter will enable faster routing of all patients to the treatment rooms in the hospital. This will relieve the pressure on the emergency department, allowing patients actually intended for the emergency department to be treated faster and better. The routes for employees will also be shortened, which in turn conserves resources in the nursing sector.