A More Efficient Emergency Room

David experienced a very long ER wait time with his late wife. When he returned years later, he was pleasantly surprised with how quick his ER visit was.

Boone Hospital has been part of David Strodtman’s family’s life for decades. His son was born here in 1961. Although they moved to Colorado for 40 years, they returned 20 years ago and went straight back to Boone Hospital. “I’ve always considered it to be the best hospital in the area,” David said.

In late 2022, David arrived at Boone Hospital’s emergency room early in the morning due to a severe nosebleed his wife, Ruth, was experiencing. At the time, she was battling multiple serious health issues and nose bleeds were one of several ongoing problems. The admittance process was long. After some time, Ruth was taken to triage and then moved to the general waiting area with a warm blanket. She remained very ill, and her family was concerned about the urgency of her care. Her nose continued to bleed while they waited, and her family members were anxious.

Eventually, the lead nurse was able to get her into treatment. However, Boone’s ER did not have the necessary resources to fully address the issue — specifically, an Ear Nose and Throat specialist was needed. They were able to stop the bleeding temporarily, but it was only a stop-gap measure. For the next occurrence, David and his wife had to go to an ENT specialist outside of Boone Hospital to be treated.

While the staff at Boone were courteous and kind, the procedures in place at that time did not allow for prompt treatment. “We were in the ER for six to eight hours.” David said. “It’s hard sitting in the waiting room when your wife is sick like that. It took us a long time to get treatment. That experience left us feeling helpless and anxious. When your wife is terminally ill, you want someone to respond to her immediately, and seeing patients who appeared less critical being seen ahead of her was hard. It felt like with such a serious nosebleed, she could have been prioritized.”

Sadly, Ruth passed away on January 5, 2023 due to multiple complications, primarily heart failure.

David’s own emergency room visit happened in May 2025, and it was very different. David had fallen and hit the back of his head. He’s taking Plavix, a blood thinner, so he first called his primary care physician, Dr. Scoles, and was advised to go to the ER.

This time, David was taken to triage immediately and received a CT scan almost right away. After a brief wait, a nurse informed him his scan was clear and led him to a small, curtained cubicle where a doctor came in promptly, confirmed the scan results, and told him he could go home once paperwork was done. The whole visit took just under two hours.

"This was much more streamlined and efficient," David said. David's family was very appreciative of him being treated and released without the prolonged ER wait time.

It wasn’t an unpleasant experience at all. Of course, ERs have their share of chaos, but this time they avoided much of that. It was methodical and smooth. Knowing that Ruth was terminally ill, David wanted her to receive urgent attention, which isn’t always possible. After returning to the ER, he’s grateful to see improvements in the system. “We were very thankful for the change in procedures,” David said.

By Erin Wegner

Rapid Care Path

Before the initiation of our Rapid Care Path, the emergency room only had its 16 beds to treat patients. When the ER was busy, those beds filled up quickly.

In Spring 2025, Rapid Care Path was initiated, allowing the ER to utilize a space in their department that had previously been underutilized.

5 chairs – kind of like big recliners – were set up and sectioned off with curtains to provide as much privacy as possible. This space allowed for 5 additional treatment areas.

These treatment areas were designed to see patients who come to the ER with non-urgent needs who require less resources: a prescription refill, a laceration or cut that is easy to treat, an adult with dental pain who needs pain meds and antibiotics.

The Rapid Care Path is open from 9 AM – 9 PM, 7 days a week and is staffed by an emergency department nurse, an emergency department provider and a patient care technician.

They can do all of the same things that can be done in a treatment room, this just helps the ER expedite the care of these patients if they can be seen in this area.

On a busy day, the ER has seen over 30 patients in the Rapid Care Path in a 12-hour window. That’s 30 less patients waiting for one of those 16 treatment beds.

It's been a huge success with helping the ER maximize its efficiency while also minimizing patient wait times. By Nick Woods, Emergency Department Manager