The Medical Short-Stay Unit cares for patients in need of intravenous infusion of drugs (such as chemotherapy, antibiotic, steroid, or other treatments), various medication administrations, blood products, allergy injections, or ongoing wound care.
Patients with a range of chronic conditions, such as Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, or other acute or chronic conditions that require maintenance medications, are treated in the unit. The department offers consistent staffing with nurses who are specially trained and have expertise in these therapies.
Many patients faced with an acute or chronic illness are particularly in need of coordinated care. The Medical Short-Stay Unit has the ability to act as the focal point for combined and supportive therapies for patients. While a patient is receiving one treatment in the department, he or she also may receive consults from a pharmacist, a dietician, a respiratory therapist, or even someone on the home health or hospice staff.
The departmental goal is to offer comprehensive, all-inclusive care to relieve patients of the strain of going from one medical appointment to another. The department makes an effort to meet as many of a patient’s needs as it can while he or she is being treated in the unit. The nurses in the unit stay in close communication with the referring physicians, no matter where they are located.
The Medical Short-Stay Unit offers a quiet room with a beautiful view of Port Townsend Bay. Patients who are not feeling well may request a private room with a bed from which they can see the same view. There also is a room dedicated strictly to wound care. Patients are served meals if their treatment spans one of the mealtimes during the day or evening. The unit is staffed seven days a week.