APD completes Dartmouth-Hitchcock Emergency Department transition

As of April 1, 2021, all Emergency Department (ED) providers at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital (APD) are board-certified, emergency medicine residency-trained physicians who also provide care at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) Emergency Department.

Under a plan that began in September, 2019, APD transitioned the staffing of its ED and hospitalist services to a regional model with providers from Dartmouth-Hitchcock. At the time, all hospitalists were board-certified and many, but not all, ED providers were board-certified.

Board certification is a rigorous, specialty-specific process that identifies physicians who merit the distinction of being called experts in their specialty. These physicians have completed a three-to-four year residency in emergency medicine, have sat for rigorous board certification and are required to seek re-certification on a regular basis.

“Providing the same emergency physicians at APD as at DHMC means that APD patients can be assured they will always have access to the highest quality emergency care at their local hospital,” said Scott W. Rodi, MD, MPH, chair, Department of Emergency Medicine at DHMC. “Patients can count on consistency among the doctors they see and a smooth transfer to DHMC if necessary. This staffing model will help optimize consistent, integrated care within the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health system.”

The Emergency Department at APD provides:

• Local 24-hour access to highly trained emergency physicians and nurses.
• Comprehensive care close to home.
• Improved continuity of care through eD-H, a unified electronic health record, and the myD-H patient portal.
• TeleEmergency: additional specialized clinical support at the push of a button.
• TelePsychiatry: psychiatric assessment by a board-certified psychiatrist through videoconference; no need to leave for a mental health assessment.

“Our patients and the community will benefit from having these board-certified ED providers at APD,” said APD’s Chief Medical Officer Michael Lynch, MD, MBA. “Their presence through this regional staffing model enables APD to manage more acute cases in our small and intimate setting that affords short wait times to care (usually under 20 minutes) and brings an added level of confidence and familiarity to the community we serve,” he added.