Since 31 July 2023, the “See and Treat” program has been operational at the Emergency Department of the Cona hospital, a path dedicated to patients whose health problems, of less seriousness and urgency, can find an answer through direct access to the specific clinic , avoiding several steps and procedures.
The “See and Treat” route – which has already been active in other regions for many years (such as, for example, Tuscany) – is part of a wider project on a provincial basis aimed at optimizing the emergency/urgency service. This path is already present at the Delta and Cento hospitals. As regards the Emergency Assistance Centers (Cau), they are active at the Casa della Salute/Community of Cittadella San Rocco in Ferrara, in Comacchio (Community House) and in Copparo (Terre e Fiumi Community House).
The figure of the has also recently been introduced flow manager, or nurse responsible for the flow, with the aim of managing patient flows in the ED and assessing their severity to ensure monitoring and correct management. At the same time, bed management was activated on a provincial basis, which is essential for managing hospitalizations based on the patient’s needs.
What is the “See and Treat” path? The user who accesses the ED is greeted by the triage nurse who establishes a priority code. This is an adequately trained figure, with a specific specialization path, able to evaluate the emergencies that can be treated according to the “See and Treat” path. The user is subsequently accompanied to the surgery – also located inside the Emergency Room – and is taken over by the nurse, also in this case an expert nurse, with specific training who acts on the basis of predefined protocols and validated by the medical/nursing team. At the end of the treatment, once the practice is closed, the patient can go home, avoiding waiting times, which unfortunately are often long even for mild cases.
The safety of the user, who is adequately informed about the type of treatment, is guaranteed throughout his stay in the ED, as he always remains in the Emergency Department, to guarantee appropriate and global care. Naturally, despite being a nursing-managed clinic, the figure of the doctor is still foreseen at the “See and Treat” who is always present in the structure just in case.
Yesterday morning, Wednesday 2 August, we interviewed one of the patients who took advantage of the course. His name is Alberto Carandina, 62 years old from Ostellato and arrived in PS with a metal sliver in his leg. “I decided to go to the ED even though the wound was not serious, because it was bothering me a lot and I felt I had to remove the splinter. I also needed to understand if it was something deep or superficial. I had a great time and I didn’t have any problems; I was immediately admitted to the clinic without making any kind of antechamber”.
The patient was accepted and discharged within 1 hour.
“We say goodbye with satisfaction – comments the Dr. Chiara Pesci, Director of the “Emergency Medicine” Operative Unit of the University Hospital of Ferrara – the beginning of the “See and Treat” path at the Cona Emergency Department, a path that fits into a provincial project already consolidated on the emergency rooms of the area, aimed at optimizing the urgent emergency service. The expert nurses of the “See and Treat” will offer response to low complexity emergencies, providing qualified assistance for “single” problems but with very short waiting and treatment times. We are sure that this route will be appreciated by users of the province, as has been the case for years in other regions”.
“The “See and Treat” clinic in Cona, run by nurses – they explain dott.ssa Catia Crepaldi, Head of Nursing and DAI Emergency Technique of the Cona hospital and dr. Davide Cavedagna Acting Manager of the Directorate of Professions of the University Hospital of Ferrara – saw a complex and articulated path of development and organization of professional skills in order to harmonize and consolidate this model in the provincial emergency-urgency network, in full synergy with the Assistance, Technical, Rehabilitation, Prevention and Social Department. The goal is to give feedback to the more than 80,000 patients a year who access Cona, through personalized and appropriate pathways based on their severity of access. The “See and Treat” function, within the hospital facilities, is identified as a fundamental and intermediate link between the Urgency Assistance Centers (CAU), located in the Community Houses, and the Emergency Room function inside a hospital for “major codes”. Alongside the “fast track” models, active for several years in Orthopedics, ENT and Ophthalmology with over 18,000 accesses a year”.
IN THE PHOTO: the nurses and doctors of “See and Treat” together with the patient, last from the left