All patients who have been severely injured in an accident in northern Estonia or the islands are brought to the NEMC’s emergency room, either directly or via a local hospital. Advanced life support medics transport the patient in such a case. Patients are also helicoptered in.
Before the arrival of a severely injured patient, a trauma team of 13 medics is alerted. The team gathers in the emergency room’s IC hall before the patient’s arrival. The CAT scanner, blood bank and operating room all start preparations concurrently.
The NEMC’s emergency room is the first ER in the country to introduce medical triage*. Today the system is still actively being developed.
The NEMC emergency room is a popular internship area for students and residents in different medical specialities.
The ER has a major responsibility in the event of major disasters and epidemics. To boost readiness, we regularly organize demonstration drills both inside and outside the hospital.
* The triage category determines how time-critical medical care is for a patient. The category determines how quickly the patient will be seen by a doctor and where the patient will be placed in the ER. Patients are assisted based on the clinical condition pursuant to the triage category, not in the order in which they arrive. Triage is carried out for all patients who arrive at the ER, both those brought in by ambulances and patients who come to the ER themselves.
Ambulance Centre
In autumn 2013, after the number of ambulance bases was increased, an ambulance centre was opened. Besides providing ambulance service, the centre also trains crews and has special simulation training classrooms. The latter should eventually become a training based for other centre personnel.
The ambulance centre has nine bases covering three regions – western Harju County, Lääne County, and Hiiumaa Island as well as the smaller islands (Vormsi, Kihnu and Ruhnu). As many as 15,500 calls for an ambulance are received per year and patients are hospitalized in 40 percent of the cases.
The centre also has two Advanced Life Support teams for assisting conventional ambulances or transporting critical cases outside Tallinn, including via aircraft.