Trustees Approve Plan to Expand Duke Hospital's Emergency Department

DURHAM, N.C. -- The Duke University Board of Trustees on Friday approved a plan to expand and renovate the emergency department at Duke University Hospital.

The $29.8 million project will provide for a new, larger space with separate entrances and care areas for adult and pediatric patients; adjacent resuscitation and radiology areas; and a more effective layout to allow for improved staff and patient circulation throughout the department.

With the trustee approval, the Duke University Health System (DUHS) can now apply to the State of North Carolina for a certificate of need. Renovations could begin in January 2005 and be completed in August 2007.

The emergency department, located on the hospital's first floor, was constructed in 1981 and designed to handle 38,000 patient visits per year. Due to increased patient demand and continued growth of the Triangle area, the department currently sees more than 59,000 patients per year. Much of the nearly $134 million in charity and uncompensated care provided by Duke Hospital comes through its emergency department, Duke officials said.

Although several major renovations have been made to the original emergency department in the last six years, space requirements for patients and staff have not kept pace with population growth. Recent DUHS estimates suggest the emergency department will see up to 90,000 patients annually by 2015.

In other action on Friday, the trustees approved:

-- the transfer of the Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy from the School of Medicine to Arts and Sciences;

-- changing the name of the "University Program in Genetics" to the "University Program in Genetics and Genomics";

-- extending by up to five years the lease for the Ronald McDonald House at 506 Alexander Ave. The facility, which the Pediatric-Family Center of North Carolina has operated for the past 25 years, provides a home-like setting for seriously ill children and their families while the children receive medical care at Duke.

-- the sale for $8,500 to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) of one-half acre of land along Old Erwin Road, between NC 751 and Cornwallis Road. NCDOT needs the land for right-of-way and temporary drainage easement as it plans to replace a bridge over Mud Creek.