Emergency care

To ensure you receive the best possible emergency care, our emergency room features:

• Access to specialty services and physicians in our other HCA Florida Healthcare hospitals
• Advanced care from board-certified emergency physicians and emergency-trained staff
• Dedicated private pediatric emergency room and specialized care for pediatric patients
• Emergency room self-service patient check-in kiosks
• Full-service diagnostic laboratory, including X-rays, computerized tomography (CT) scans and ultrasounds on site
• Free Wi-Fi

A heart attack, also called a myocardial infarction, is what occurs when blood flow to the heart is blocked. The blockage is typically caused by an accumulation of fat, cholesterol or other substances that form a plaque within the arteries of the heart.

A heart attack can be fatal, but it does not have to be. We can all take proactive measures to have better cardiovascular health and educate ourselves on the symptoms of a heart attack so we can seek help quickly.

Heart attack signs and symptoms

If you believe someone could be having a heart attack, call 911 immediately.

You could save someone's life by recognizing the following heart attack symptoms and signs:

• Back, jaw or neck pain
• Cold sweat
• Dizziness, sudden lightheadedness or fainting
• Fatigue
• Irregular or racing heartbeat
• Heartburn, indigestion, nausea or abdominal pain
• Pain, pressure, tightness or an aching discomfort in your chest or arms, which lasts for more than a few minutes
• Shortness of breath

Our hospital offers a nationally recognized stroke center that is certified by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration as a Comprehensive Stroke Center and by The Joint Commission as a Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center. These recognitions are a result of our effective, safe and high-quality stroke care. We've also received a DNV stroke certification which verifies our stroke care programs are meeting or exceeding standards of care in the delivery of quality stroke care.

In addition to our main campus, we have a second emergency room location off 441 in Plantation: HCA Florida Plantation Emergency. This emergency room is staffed with an expert emergency team ready to provide the same level of exceptional, rapid care as our main hospital emergency room.

When it comes to emergency care, our goal is to continually work toward enhancing the care you receive, while reducing our wait times. This ensures you get the care you need, when you need it most.

Our wait times are updated every 30 minutes and are available on our website.

To find out the wait times of the HCA Florida emergency room nearest to you, check the top of our website or text "ER" to 32222.

Note: Message and data rates may apply. Emergency room wait times are approximate and provided for informational purposes only.

However, we want you to feel secure about your choice for care, which is why we've created a list of symptoms that may indicate you need to visit the emergency room:

• Back pain, when it is unbearable or accompanied by fever, numbness, weakness, confusion, slurred speech, vision loss or loss of control over bladder or bowels
• Broken bones, when the pain is severe or there is a visible deformity
• Chest pain, when it is crushing or squeezing and accompanied by other heart attack symptoms, such as shortness of breath or nausea
• Concussion, when you have lost consciousness, even briefly, or experience amnesia, vomiting, slurred speech or a seizure
• Flu, when symptoms become severe, such as having trouble breathing, vomiting uncontrollably or becoming dehydrated
• Side pain, when it is severe and occurs in the lower right stomach, side or back or is accompanied by fever, nausea, diarrhea or blood in the urine
• Stomach pain, when accompanied by a hard or tender stomach, nausea, shortness of breath, fever or irregular heartbeat
• Trouble breathing, when breathing stops, is noisy or high-pitched and comes with pain in the chest or severe shortness of breath

If you are unsure if your symptoms require an emergency room visit, you can speak to a nurse 24/7 by calling our Consult-A-Nurse® team at (954) 370-5585.

When you get to the emergency room, one of our triage nurses will assess your symptoms and vital signs. Next, a registration clerk will collect your insurance card (if available) and other information.

We medically screen, evaluate and stabilize all patients — whether or not they have insurance or are able to pay.

Anyone who has severe, life-threatening illnesses or injuries will be treated first. Everyone else will be treated in the order they arrive.

Before discharge, we encourage you to ask our emergency care teams any questions you have. It is also useful for you to keep all of your paperwork, discharge information and medicines or prescriptions together after you leave the emergency room.

After discharge, our emergency department staff will reach out to your primary care provider to ensure they are updated on your care.

When coming to the emergency room, we recommend you bring:

• A list of medicines you currently take
• A list of known allergies
• Copies of results from recent medical tests, if available
• Personal care preferences and restrictions
• A responsible adult or phone number for someone to contact