Emergency Department

Condell Medical Center's Emergency Department opened in January 2003. The ultra-modern department is bigger and better equipped than ever before to handle the area's emergency cases. It's been specially designed and outfitted to meet patients' needs for privacy, efficiency, and most importantly, prepared to provide life-saving measures and treatment.

Through its Emergency Department (ED), Condell provides immediate access to monitoring, diagnostic imaging, cardiac services, catheterizations and surgeries, as well as intensive care or air ambulance transport for Level I trauma cases. Our trauma team is prepared for disasters or severe emergencies large or small, while keeping in mind that every emergency patient needs individual care.

Our two main goals are patient satisfaction and quick treatment -- formidable tasks given the rapidly escalating growth in the number of Lake County residents seeking emergency care -- Condell alone treated 54,000 patients in 2006, up 12.5 percent from the year before. But now that the new and more spacious 13,000-square-foot ED is twice its former size, Condell's ED team is even better prepared to meet these challenges.

Our expert staff cares for each patient. Registered nurses in Condell's ED are required to obtain advanced training and become certified by the state as trauma nurse specialists within one year of being hired. The ED also employs nurses trained in pediatric advanced life support (PALS) as part of its state designation to treat pediatric patients who are critically ill or injured. The ED physician staff is provided by Infinity HealthCare, to ensure the high caliber of medical expertise Condell demands. These physicians are all board-certified in Emergency Medicine, and have extensive experience in running high volume Emergency Departments and Trauma Centers..

Condell is certified by the State of Illinois as a Level II Trauma Center with helicopter transport capabilities to and from the leading teaching hospitals in Chicagoland and Milwaukee. Each of the 22 private treatment rooms has solid walls on three sides with sliding glass doors to allow visual monitoring — no more being able to hear the patient next door or worrying that the person could hear you. Each treatment room is identical and faces a central nursing station.

Outside the treatment area is a spacious waiting lounge, vending area and a family consultation room for private meetings with ED staff. We've also added a new computer system to track each patient's progress through assessment, testing, consultation and release from the emergency department. The new system helps us quickly assess the current location and treatment stage of each patient.

For less severe emergencies such as simple cuts and infections, extremity features, we have an area that is part of the ED called Express Care. This system helps eliminate long waiting periods. We recognize that it can be difficult to wait for treatment when severely ill or trauma cases are in the same area. Treating minor ailments in one area and severe problems in another speeds patient flow without compromising high-quality emergency care.

As an Illinois Department of Public Health designated EMS Resource Hospital, Condell actively educates, trains and is responsible for EMS personnel within our system who transport patients by ambulance. We also are certified and voluntarily operate under the State of Illinois guidelines, and recognized as an Emergency Department Approved for Pediatrics (EDAP).

Condell's comprehensive emergency services are designed to take the worry out of an emergency and deliver the fastest, essential treatment to every patient.