How to visit the emergency unit

The emergency staff want you to be attended to as quickly as possible, but sometimes the workload of the Service does not allow this. For this reason, and in order to attend first to the patients who need it most, the team that receives the patients will make an initial assessment of the person's condition and will give priority of attention according to the severity of the problem and the availability of space.

Documentation required

When you arrive at the Emergency Service, you will have to go first to the Admissions desk. You should bring your Healthcare Identification card, Identity document or passport. If you belong to PAMEM, bring the relevant card, or the authorisation if you have private health insurance. If you do not have these documents with you at the time of the visit, you should contact the Treasury Service of the Hospital afterwards, either by telephone or in person, in case it is necessary to provide some form of documentation.

Social work area

When the patient reaches the area where the care is provided, a physical examination and any complementary tests that the doctor may consider necessary will be carried out.

Given the large workload usually carried out in this area, and the nature of the work done, the patients must enter unaccompanied. However, whenever the workload of the Service permits it, a brief visit by a family member is allowed. Children under 15 can enter accompanied by a family member. To guarantee that all family members receive information on the patient's progress, we recommend that you stay in the Waiting Room. As soon as we have relevant information, you will be called on the megaphone.

If the workload of the Emergency Service of the Hospital del Mar obliges us to prolong the waiting time for longer than desired, and provided that the treatment team considers it appropriate, we will make the Emergency Service of the Peracamps Centre available to you.

Emergency specialisms

The Hospital del Mar has the following emergency specialisms:

Surgery:

General Surgery
Traumatology
Gynaecology and Obstetrics
Vascular Surgery
Neurosurgery

General Services:

Anaesthesiology
Radiology
Clinical Analysis
Digestive endoscopy

Medicine.

Medicine
Paediatrics
Nephrology
Cardiology
Intensive Medicine

Information for family members

First information session: Once the patient has been seen, the doctor responsible will explain his/her situation in the doctor's offices, and will tell you the time when the next information will be given.
Second information session: Once the patient has been examined, you will be told what approach is to be taken.
Other information sessions: Apart from these contacts, family members will be informed whenever there is a change to the patient's expected condition. We recommend that family members or other persons accompanying the patient choose somebody to act as interlocutor with the doctor and to relate information to the rest of the family.

Observation room / Pre-admission Area

Depending on the patient's progress, in some cases the doctor may decide that the patient should stay under observation. The times for receiving medical information are 12 midday and 8pm. Family members also receive information whenever there are changes in the patient's condition. At these times one person may visit each patient: From 11am to 2pm and from 3.30pm to 8.30pm, provided that the activity of the Service allows it. Considering the serious condition of some patients, more than one person may be allowed to stay with them, provided that the treatment situation allows it.

If it is necessary for the patient to be hospitalised, the doctor responsible will inform you. The Admissions Service will notify the family members when the patient will be transferred.

Other useful information

There is a telephone in the Waiting Room for family members of emergency patients to receive incoming calls. You can inform your family members that, if necessary, they can call you in the Waiting Room on the number 93 248 30 15. If this telephone rings, answer it. It could be a call for you or for a family member of another patient in the Emergency Service. We request that you switch off mobile phones when you are in the care area, as their use could interfere with the correct functioning of electronic equipment.