FMH Surgicalist Program

Frederick Memorial Hospital has one of the busiest Emergency Departments in the state. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, patients are admitted through the FMH Emergency Department who need surgery immediately for everything from acute appendicitis to trauma-related injuries.

When handling such a demanding caseload of emergencies proved difficult for area surgeons - who were also caring for the patients of their own private practices - to manage, FMH launched a surgicalist service. Staffed with three physicians, a nurse practitioner and medical assistants, the FMH surgicalist program provides emergency care for patients.

"Traditionally, the care of emergency surgical patients required private practice surgeons to be on-call, providing consultations at all hours," says Dr. Manny Casiano, FMH Vice President for Medical Affairs. "The surgicalist program at FMH is helping us to provide high quality, timely and efficient care to patients with urgent surgical conditions."

The specialty frees surgeons from the demands of private practice, and allows them to focus completely on their surgical patients. Surgicalists follow the patient from the ER through the OR, and through their stay and discharge. They say being able to identify a patient's medical issue, and then treat it and fix it, is very rewarding and gratifying.