Room 9 in 10 Minutes
by GRANT GELLERT , MD
The radio abruptly squawks , adding to the routine cacophony of Louisville ’ s only tertiary care center , fully staffed with consultation available from all medical specialties . As the only Level One Trauma Center in the region , our Trauma team is available in house 24 / 7 . An EMS crew rapidly relays a critical patient ’ s vital signs , medical condition or injuries and an ETA . Without pause , an emergency physician initiates an all call , “ Room 9 , 10 minutes .”
Since the current iteration of Room 9 ’ s creation at the University of Louisville ( UofL ) Hospital in the early 1970s , its walls have echoed with calls to Room 9 . Every health care team member reacts to its call : physicians , nurses , RT , lab , X-ray , security , patient care assistants and chaplain . A foundry for emergency medicine education , Room 9 continues to serve as the primary resuscitation , learning and treatment center for the Emergency Department ( ED ) at UofL . All who train at UofL learn when “ Room 9 ” is heard overhead , a critically sick or injured patient will arrive , require prompt evaluation and often require extensive care in the resuscitation bay .
A unique aspect of Room 9 is its ability to function as a trauma resuscitation bay as well as a workspace for faster diagnostics , procedures and treatment . Upon arrival , patients are evaluated to determine if they are ill or injured enough to warrant a “ Room 9 .” This may also occur prior to arrival via radio with EMS . This includes all strokes , major traumas , coding patients and critically ill medical patients such as undifferentiated shock . In addition to resuscitations , Room 9 is also used for sensitive examinations , sedations and procedures . Room 9 is in constant use . Room 9 does require significant human and material resource usage , but also allows for rapid assessment , diagnostics and treatment .
Louisville has a storied history of emergency medicine care . The first “ emergency room ” in the nation 1 was created at UofL ’ s predecessor Louisville City Hospital in 1911 . The chair of surgery , Dr . William O . Roberts , assigned medical students to “ be on hand at all times ” for accidents . 2 Emergency medical care took many small steps towards becoming an ABMS specialty over the next 50 years , including developing EMS services in the post-World War II era . By 1960 , emergency medicine developed rapidly in places including Pontiac , Michigan and Alexandria , Virginia . Simultaneously , reports indicate that in Louisville , the Jefferson County Medical Society developed a plan enlisting a rotating pool of 25
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