Direct Admissions

Fort Washington Medical Center’s Direct Admissions allows patients to be admitted without having to go through the Emergency Room. Direct admission patients are sent to the hospital directly by you when their health condition requires it. With one call you can admit your patients to FWMC in less than 15 minutes.

Direct Admission Process

• STEP 1: Contact Fort Washington Medical Center at 301-203-2978. Our dedicated staff will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist you.
• STEP 2: Fort Washington Medical Center staff will verify bed availability and clinical appropri­ateness of admission. Our case management team will work with your team to ensure that this is a smooth process for your patients. They will be resource for both you and your patient.
• STEP 3: Your case manager will directly connect you with Fort Washington Medical Center’s Hospitalist so that you can to discuss the patient’s condition and determine if the patient is appropriate for admission.*
• STEP 4: Once it has been determined that your patient will be admitted to Fort Washington Medical Center, we will begin the pre-registration process with you or you team. You can fax additional patient information to 301-203-2057. This can include insurance infor­mation, a copy of the patient’s most recent visit summary and medication list.
• STEP 5: Upon your patient’s arrival a member from the Fort Washington Medical Center’s admissions team will meet them, complete registration, and escort them to their room.

Criteria To Exclude Direct Admits in Favor of ED Evaluation

In general, any patient requiring urgent intervention and management with potential for ICU admission should be sent to the ED for evaluation. Some examples include:

• Chest pain suspicious for angina or angina equivalents requiring rule out of MI
• Acute Sepsis - with SIRS criteria with and without hypotension
• Acute abdomen
• Hypoxia with SATS < 88% on RA or oxygen dependent patient requiring 4L or more for sats >88%
• Symptoms suspicious for stroke
• Rapid atrial fibrillation or flutter with HR>110 at rest
• Respiratory failure or distress
• Acute mental status changes
• Unstable vital signs such as SBP <90 or HR > 110 at rest
• GI bleed with orthostatic changes
• Severe anemia