Carteret Health Care (formerly Carteret General Hospital) is a 135-bed,

non-profit hospital A non-profit hospital is a hospital that does not make profits for owners of the hospital from the funds collected for patient services. The owners of non-profit hospitals are often a charitable organization or non-profit corporations. Fees for ...

Morehead City Morehead City is a port town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007. It forms part of the Crystal Coast. His ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. Carteret General was founded in 1967.

Hospitalist Program

Most general medical

patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...

s are admitted through the

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...

(ED) by the "

Hospitalist Hospital medicine is a medical specialty that exists in some countries as a branch of family medicine or internal medicine, dealing with the care of acutely ill hospitalized patients. Physicians whose primary professional focus is caring for ho ...

Physicians A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

group. The doctors are in the hospital 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. They work 12-hour shifts to ensure continuity of care but also aim to prevent excessive physician fatigue. Patients who have experienced admission through the hospitalist group generally give the idea rave reviews.

Equipment

The hospital began upgrading to new beds that are designed for comfort and safety in 2003. All the beds are now

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

ized, with special capabilities such as being able to weigh the patient in bed and alleviate pressure points. Safety engineering features such as low bed height and a patient position monitor that alerts staff when a patient is moving in and out of bed has reduced the likelihood of falls. For the 2003 upgrade, standard beds costs approximately $8,000, while high-end beds for the intensive care and surgical units cost between $17,000 and $23,000. A remote control InTouch Health RP-7

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

named ''Riley'' was purchased in 2011. It allows staff members and patients almost immediate access to

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

experts at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. The robot has two-way live video chat capabilities which allows physicians to remotely diagnose strokes and quickly develop care plans.

References

External links

* {{authority control Hospital buildings completed in 1967 Hospitals in North Carolina Buildings and structures in Carteret County, North Carolina