By Tania Chatila
USC Health Sciences Public Relations and Marketing

For Derek Morton, the thought of having to wait hours in an emergency room to be examined for a post-operative abscess was more than off-putting.

Luckily for Morton, a 34-year-old patient treated for colon cancer at USC Norris Cancer Hospital, he didnt have to. Instead, he was sent to the Evaluation and Treatment Centera 24-hour clinic exclusively for patients of the USC hospitals.

Its my first time here, but its a really nice set-up and a good idea, said Morton, who had surgery with Rick Selby, professor of surgery at the Keck School, in February. Heinz-Josef Lenz, professor of medicine and preventive medicine at the Keck School, referred him to the center last week, after a scheduled office visit.

Everything has been really quick, and everyone is really nice, he said.

Morton is one of hundreds of patients seen at the center since it opened eight months ago.

Located on the first floor of the Norris Inpatient Tower at USC University Hospital, the clinic serves as a 24-hour ambulatory care center, where established, private patients of USC providers can go for after-hours care.

Infrastructure for the center was developed from the ground up by a dedicated committee of hospital administrators and physicians, led by Fred Weaver, chief of vascular surgery at the Keck School.

Since then, the center has undergone significant growth in patient volumesometimes treating between six and eight patients a day.

This was a new model, and we essentially started with zero patients, said Weaver. Now we are seeing an average of 100 to 120 patients a month, and we anticipate even more growth in the future.

The center includes two patient exam rooms, a waiting area, consultation area, nursing area and an adjacent admitting space, said Emma Wright, director of the Evaluation and Treatment Center. The center maintains a staff of about 20 full-time nursesroughly half of whom are registered nurses and half of whom are licensed vocational nurses.

The clinic takes no walk-ins. Instead, USC physicians can refer a patient there for post-operative issues or other concerns. Then, that physician or a selected designee can visit with the patient once intakes have been completed.

When patients come down here and spend time on the campus, they really like it here. They dont want to go to an emergency room for non-urgent care, said Weaver. This center offers a quick and convenient way for patients to be seen, and for physicians, it affords them a centralized location where they can assess their patients needs after hours.

All nurses work in pairs to closely screen patients before their physicians see them. The pairs consist of one RN and one LVN for each patient.

We are self-sufficient. We do everything ourselves from lab work to electrocardiograms to transportation within the hospital for other services or tests, said Wright.

All of the nurses come from critical care or urgent care backgrounds and are trained in a variety of specialties such as cardiovascular disease, vascular disease, neurosurgery, neurology and oncology.

The licensed vocational nurses are challenged to maximize their potential by doing everything from starting intravenous therapy and drawing blood to administering medication. And because of the centers expanding ability to treat multiple patient types, the licensed vocational nurses also have the ability help treat all kinds of conditions.

When I work here, I get to see all kinds of diseases and diagnoses, said Dina Molina, a licensed vocational nurse at the Evaluation and Treatment Center. I can really put my knowledge to work.

As a growing operation, ongoing planning is already under way to continue expansion of the clinic as it nears its one-year anniversary. Administrators are developing a physician-staffing model and are also looking to expand the physical dimensions of the clinic to accommodate increased patient volumes.

Scott Evans, executive administrator for medicine and hospital operations, credited the success and growth of the clinic to its staff.

Without the dedication and professionalism of the ETC staff, none of this would be possible, he said. It is because of their continued efforts to support our patients and physicians that we have been able to make this model a success.

For Brenda Jones, a nurse at the clinic, it has always been about patient satisfaction. That means safe, rapid treatment and the ability to offer patients the 24-hour expertise they have come to know and depend on.

The great thing about the ETC is that we can cut out that third-party care from people who dont know our patients or cant properly treat them, Jones said. Here, the patients start with USC and finish with USC.