The Center for Emergency Care at PMC provides state-of-the-art emergency medicine, treating patients with any medical problems that cannot wait to be seen by their regular doctor, as well as severe and life-threatening illnesses and injuries.
The Center is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is staffed around-the-clock by physicians who are board certified in emergency medicine and registered nurses who are trained in trauma, emergency care and disaster preparedness. PMC’s Center for Emergency Care sees close to 60,000 patients each year from throughout the greater Mercer/Middlesex county region.
The health and safety of our medical staff, employees, volunteers, and patients is a top priority at Penn Medicine Princeton Health. To help ensure a safe environment, we have installed the Evolv Weapons detection system in the Emergency Department. This highly reliable screening system accurately detects weapons in a touchless manner. It is a high-speed system designed for large volumes of people and allows visitors to enter the building at their natural pace, eliminating crowded security lines and delays.
The Evolv Express uses extremely low frequency radio waves (ELF) - a non-ionizing sensing modality - in compliance with IEEE's 2019 guidance for safe operation with the general public, which they define as including pregnant people and their unborn children. An alternative screening approach is recommended for anyone who has health and safety concerns.
PMC’s Center for Emergency Care is led by:
- Joseph Portale, MD, Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine
Our 20,000 square-foot Center for Emergency Care features:
- Emergency Medicine specialists who are all board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
- Advanced Practice Clinicians - Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners.
- Psychiatrists board certified by American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
- A contemporary interventional procedures suite with operating rooms, cardiac catheterization and vascular laboratories.
- 35 spacious single patient rooms, four of which are designated for pediatric patients and six for patients with behavioral health needs.
- Fast Track, a rapid medical evaluation unit for those patients with minor illnesses and injuries.
- Physicians from the world-renowned Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), who are on-site 24/7 to consult on emergency cases involving infants, children and adolescents to ensure they receive outstanding, age-appropriate care.
- Therapeutic hypothermia. PMC was one of the area's first hospitals to offer this innovative technology that allows our specially-trained emergency care team to resuscitate a patient who has suffered a heart attack or another life-threatening condition. This treatment has been shown to improve patients' chances of survival and full neurologic recovery.
- Behavioral Health Emergency Department (BHED)
- Consists of board certified psychiatrists, with subspecialties of addiction medicine along with child and adolescent psychiatry.
- The BHED is operational 24 hours/7 days a week to strengthen crisis intervention with direct access to inpatient behavioral health and intensive outpatient or partial hospital services, including screening assessments for patients who require inpatient level of care.
- Hospitalists, who specialize in providing direct care to patients from admission to discharge. All hospitalists at PMC are board certified internal medicine doctors. If you are admitted, the hospitalist will communicate with your primary care physician as well as any specialists or others involved in your care, so they are prepared to continue your care after you are discharged.
- State-of-the-art emergency angioplasty technology that locates and opens blocked vessels and restores blood flow to the heart in the event of a heart attack. With the LIFENET Cardiac Care System, which transmits EKG data to emergency care physicians and staff while patients are in transit to the hospital, PMC's board certified emergency physicians and interventional cardiologists are prepared to initiate this critical life-saving service even more promptly. In fact, PMC's average door-to-balloon time (time from patient arrival to time coronary artery opened) is 70 minutes compared to the national standard of 90 minutes. Our highly skilled team is on call around-the-clock every day to provide emergency angioplasty if you or a loved one ever suffer from a heart attack*.
- Comprehensive 3D imaging and diagnostics capabilities.
- Helipad for rapid and critical care transportation, which is provided by the PennSTAR Flight program of Penn Medicine. As a national leader in air medical safety and patient care, PennSTAR embraces proven aviation safety technologies as well as a steadfast commitment to a culture of safety. The PennSTAR Flight Program provides critical care air and ground medical transportation to the Tri-State Area within a 100-mile radius of Penn Medicine.
For more information about PennSTAR, click here.
