Visiting the Emergency Department
When should I come to the ED?
When you have a medical concern - do not wait too long to get medical care. If the concern is urgent or serious, please dial 012-808-0911 from your mobile phone or simply 911 from a landline. Save this number in your phone today.
When you arrive at the ED, you will be triaged by a nurse immediately upon entry and priority is given to the most critical situations. Most patients wait less than 15 minutes to be seen in the Emergency Department. Below are the timing expectations which have been established for KAUST Health.
Sometimes when you come to the ED, we may arrange a clinic appointment for you. If that happens, it is because our assessment indicates that the condition will be more appropriately dealt with in the clinic rather than in ED, and it is best to see the relevant Family Medicine doctor, Pediatrician, Ob/Gyn or specialty doctor rather than an emergency medicine consultant.
Who staffs the ED?
The team in ED is made up of a consultant physician and a full nursing team, supported by a receptionist. There is a full team in place 24-hours a day. Our consultants are all highly qualified, and they work 12-hour shifts, changing over at 8am and 8pm. Meet your team below.
How busy is the ED?
Every year, our Emergency Department sees approximately 9000 patients with roughly one third of them pediatrics patients. Our on-campus ambulances on average responded 350 times to 911 calls last year. Our ED is equipped to handle a range of needs from relatively minor cuts and bruises through to all sorts of major emergencies, including providing advanced cardiac and trauma life support.
What happens when you need to be transferred to Jeddah by ambulance?
The vast majority of our emergency patients do not need to leave KAUST to get the medical care required. However, if the patient’s condition warrant in-patient care or in the case of onset of labor, we will transfer the patient to a hospital in Jeddah by ambulance. There were 275 transfers during last year with 77 pregnancy transfers, mainly for delivery. From the total patients transferred almost all needed further treatment, had diagnostic tests like MRI scans that are not available at KAUST Health, or were admitted to hospital.
We transfer patients based on clinical needs and safety, which may be best assessed at a well-equipped secondary care facility, at which time the receiving clinician will determine if further treatment is warranted.
What are the ambulances like?
KAUST Health's continuous investment program helps us provide the latest health technology for our patients. This applies to all of our medical instruments including our ambulances.
All our ambulances are built to very high standard to provide both safety and comfort to those on board. They include the latest state of the art medical and resuscitation equipment that is needed for transferring patients. The ambulances also have a safe, comfortable and adaptable space for the Emergency Medical Service staff, the patient and their companion.
