Conditions & Treatments

Emergencies

When you are faced with an emergency or injury, do you what to do?

Your confidence in dealing with both major and minor emergencies will be reassuring to an injured person. Follow the links below to learn more.

Dealing with Emergencies

First Aid

Stroke Screening

We offer stroke screening (DAWN Protocols) using advanced image processing technology known as RAPID CT Perfusion, which pinpoints the area of damage caused by an ischemic stroke, locates salvable areas of brain tissue, and can establish a timeline for when the stroke occurred. This increases the window for acute treatment up to 24 hours. Learn more.

Sickle Cell Disease Management

Hartford Hospital has recently adopted a Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) policy/protocol for the Emergency Department.

Sickle Cell Disease is a group of inherited disorders where the red blood cells - which are usually round and flexible and move through small blood vessels to carry oxygen to all parts of the body - become hard and sticky and look
like a C-shaped farm tool called a “sickle.”

When the malformed sickle shaped cells travel through small blood vessels, they may get stuck and clog the blood flow. This can cause pain and other serious problems such as infection, acute chest syndrome and stroke.

The pain experienced by patients with SCD can often be managed at home. However, in extreme cases, individuals warrant a trip to the hospital for intravenous narcotic medication administration.

The primary concern of SCD patients when admitted to the hospital is often
a pain crisis. Unfortunately, pain often becomes the sole focus of managing
the disease without the implementation of a plan to address preventative
measures.

A comprehensive plan will aid in assuring access to adequate pain management and appropriate triage in addition to mitigating frequent admission and unnecessary length of stay.

To keep with the mission of Hartford Hospital, the development of this SCD plan will aid in providing a consistent patient-centered experience.

Emergency General Surgery Service

The Emergency General Surgery Service at Hartford Hospital offers exceptional care of patients with unexpected surgical diseases.

Emergency general surgery consultations are provided by attending surgeons that can facilitate an expedient and thorough assessment, and provide a plan of care for patients that may need urgent or emergent surgical intervention. The team of emergency general surgeons in the ACS Division at Hartford Hospital are all board certified in Surgical Critical Care, and provide broad experience and expertise to manage acute surgical emergencies. These include, but are not limited to, bowel perforation, bowel obstruction, abdominal compartment syndrome, soft tissue infections, and more commonly encountered surgical emergencies related to biliary disease or appendicitis.

The Emergency General Surgery Service evaluates several hundred patients annually and performs multiple urgent and emergent cases every day. Hartford Hospital offers expertise in all medical and surgical specialties, which allows the Emergency General Surgery team to provide comprehensive and multidisciplinary care.

The Emergency General Surgery team caters to highly complex general surgery, emergency surgery and surgical critical care, and welcomes all transfer requests.