With one snip, Stephanie Porges, MD, medical director
of the EDOUs, and Edward Dickinson, III, MD, interim
chair of the ED, “officially” opened the new EDOU.
Some patients who come to HUP’s Emergency Department are very sick and need to be admitted. Others have a medical issue that can be easily resolved and are able to be discharged quickly. But there is a patient population that straddles the line between these two groups – they require observation and treatment but have conditions that can usually be resolved within 24 hours, such as asthma, chest pains, faints or falls. These patients are brought to HUP’s Emergency Department Observation Unit, a 17-bed short-stay unit located adjacent to the ED.
Last month, in response to the increasing demand for EDOU beds and to improve the patient experience, HUP opened a new 10-bed observation unit on Ravdin 2. The original EDOU provides care for 525 patients a month. With the opening of the second unit, this is expected to increase to more than 600 patients a month.
At the grand opening, Philip Okala, the health system’s COO for the Philadelphia Region, said the project was “a reflection of team work. It navigated the entire evolution of how a major project succeeds at Penn – start with an idea and make it happen. Congratulations!”