The Emergency Department at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital is the Seacoast’s busiest emergency center caring for over 34,000 acute care visits per year. It is rated a Level II Trauma Center and is prepared to treat critical trauma patients. It is equipped with some of the most sophisticated technology available and staffed by highly trained and certified medical personnel to ensure the highest levels of care. The emergency physicians are specialists trained to handle all types of emergencies from very minor to the very complex. Physician assistants work with physicians during peak hours to meet patient consultations, specialty referral and admissions. Most of the eligible nursing staff are nationally certified in trauma, pediatric and emergency nursing. Further, our trauma team (consisting of an emergency physician, nurses, an anesthesiologist, a general surgeon, an orthopedic surgeon, a radiologist, respiratory therapist, lab and radiology techs) is on-call 24-hours a day and activated for critical trauma patients even before the ambulance arrives at the hospital.

Express Care is a walk-in area of the emergency department where you can expect to be seen for minor medical emergencies in a timely fashion. Express Care provides care for patients who are not in a critical situation but need medical attention and cannot see their own physician or do not have a physician. It operates from 11 am to 11:30 pm, seven days a week. Express Care has its own waiting room, seven dedicated beds and its own nursing station which are separate from the acute part of the Emergency Department. Some of the more common medical problems treated include: minor burns and cuts, low-grade fever, insect bites, minor eye injuries and earaches.