Unique medical partnership makes sharing information quick, easy Published Oct. 1, 2009 By Staff Sgt. Heather Stanton 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- The unique partnership between the 4th Medical Group and Wayne Memorial Hospital eases patient's experiences of using both medical facilities. In 1999, the 4th MDG transferred inpatient care to Wayne Memorial Hospital, making only outpatient care available at the base clinic. "They are our main inpatient referral facility," said Lt. Col. Todd Poindexter, 4th MDG chief of medical staff. Wayne Memorial Hospital provides Airmen and dependents inpatient services such as child labor and delivery, surgeries, physical therapy, mental health care and more complex care including intensive care. Wayne Memorial Hospital is also the emergency department for Team Seymour, which is the only non-referral treatment allowed for Airmen and dependents. "For life, limb or eyesight, all Airmen and dependents can go to the emergency room and be seen without a referral, for anything else there needs to be some sort of referral," said Colonel Poindexter. "Patients must be seen and evaluated by a doctor here, if we cannot provide the service, we will provide a referral." Though this seems similar to other relationships between many bases and local hospitals, this partnership has an added aspect making it one-of-a-kind. "Wayne Memorial Hospital granted us access to their inpatient computer database," said Colonel Poindexter. "We can find information on our patients, printout lab result and ER notes, all in real time. It's a huge difference for us and the patients." Before the 4th MDG received access to the database, all medical information was being faxed from Wayne Memorial Hospital, according to Thomas Bradshaw, vice president of operations at Wayne Memorial Hospital. This took time and manpower away from patient care. "We are trying to standardize sharing information, cutting waste and help facilitate better care," Mr. Bradshaw said. "We are able to take care of our military, which we certainly want to do." The personnel at Wayne Memorial Hospital are continuing to help supplement Team Seymour. "We want to start offering training for Airmen in medical specialties such as bioenvironmental engineering and radiology," Mr. Bradshaw said. "We want to rotate them through the hospital and expose them to equipment and services not seen at Seymour Johnson, but they will see when deployed." The 4th MDG is very grateful for the help coming from Wayne Memorial Hospital. "Wayne Memorial was very gracious in helping us," said Colonel Poindexter. "Patients have very close access to an array of services. They don't have to drive (very far) for a vast majority of care in town."