When you arrive at the Advanced Care Center (ACC), you’ll register with the front desk so we can gather information on your visit so we can get you to the right place.

• After registration, we will determine the severity of your condition with a nurse exam and we’ll capture your medical history.
• Patients with the most severe emergencies will receive immediate treatment first. This is why some patients may receive medical care before you, even if you arrived first.
• If your symptoms worsen as you wait, please notify the Advanced Care Center staff.

• After triage, it is now your turn for treatment. You’ll be seen by an Advanced Care Center trained doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant.
• While each condition varies, here are typical steps you may see during your treatment:
  • IV lines for quick administration of medication or fluid
  • Blood/urine samples
  • X-ray or other imaging tests

After we treat you, we will re-evaluate you after any testing comes back. From there, we’ll determine where you’ll need to go next.

• After re-evaluation, we’ll determine at discharge where you’ll go next: either home, to our clinical decision unit for further care, or to the hospital.
• If your next step is to go home after your visit, we’ll provide at-home care instructions to follow. If you need any follow up appointments, we’ll get those scheduled as well.

Some of the questions asked are required by law such as if you feel safe at home. Others are required for public health and safety reasons, such as travel questions and questions related to flu/COVID-19 symptoms. This helps us tailor your treatment.

Patients may be taken in for treatment “out of order” for several reasons. Patients with serious illness or injury must be treated immediately. A patient may also be taken to get an X-ray or blood drawn for laboratory tests or to be placed in isolation to prevent passing on contagious illnesses to other patients. If you believe that you have been overlooked, please tell one of our staff members so we can follow up right away.

Please let the staff at the front desk area know if you are feeling worse, having a new problem or would like to ask a question. He or she will contact a nurse right away to address your concern.

Unfortunately, sometimes waiting can’t be avoided. If you need to wait for a treatment area, we want to make you as comfortable as possible. The triage team stationed in the waiting area is available to provide assistance, answer questions or take care of personal needs such as a warm blanket. If you would like to leave the waiting area for a short time, the triage nurse can take your contact information and will contact you when it is your turn to be seen.

Before you use the restroom, please check with the unit host about whether a urine sample may be necessary.

Lab work and X-rays often take 60-90 minutes, while specialty tests (CT scans, MRI, ultrasound) can take several hours.

You may need a test or procedure that requires you to have an empty stomach. Before eating or drinking anything, check with the triage nurse in the waiting room, or with your medical provider or nurse if you are in a treatment area.

It is important for you to understand what is happening during your time here. Please let us know how we can help or if there are any words that you do not understand. We also offer trained and certified medical interpreters to assist patients or their family members who may have limited English proficiency or are visually or hearing impaired.

Depending on your condition, the type of testing required and the severity and requirements of other patients, the amount of wait time can vary. Sometimes the process of scheduling tests to reviewing results can take several hours. Your team will keep you updated and inform you of any delays but please ask if you have questions.

Ultrasound imaging, also called a sonogram, is a medical diagnostic procedure that uses sound waves to produce pictures of the inside of the body. The Advanced Care Centers at Kaiser Permanente offers ultrasounds.

Ultrasound examinations on all parts of the body are available for both adult and pediatric patients. Obstetrical and gynecological applications are also offered. Special applications of ultrasound include:

• Breast
• Prostate and other cancer detection
• Duplex and color-flow Doppler evaluation of blood vessels
• Guidance for biopsy
• Percutaneous (through the skin) aspiration
• Hernia evaluation
• Abscess drainage
• Intraoperative procedures
• Musculoskeletal (bone, joint and tissue) applications

An ultrasound works by using a transducer that produces and receives silent, high frequency sound waves. The transducer is usually a hand-held instrument that is placed against the body and slowly passed over the area to be examined. Sound waves pass through the skin into the body. As the waves strike against various organs, they send echoes back to the transducer. The echoes are changed into electrical energy by the transducer. The energy shows up as images on a display screen. Films of the images are then taken for further study and interpretation.

For a pregnancy, the non-invasive ultrasound exam is generally performed through the mother’s abdominal wall. The ultrasound exam is used to identify the gestational age of the fetus, the number of babies in the pregnancy, how well the baby is growing, to look for any abnormalities and to assess the placenta.

Our cutting-edge equipment consists of real-time scanners, all with Doppler and color-flow Doppler capability.

When you need an x-ray, you don’t want to wait to get one, and you don’t want to wait long for the results. At the Kaiser Permanente, we offer walk-in x-ray service at a variety of locations including all three ACC locations, for the utmost convenience for you. We also take care to produce the highest quality exams at the lowest possible radiation exposure.

Thanks to our cutting-edge digital equipment for faster turnaround, along with comprehensive readings by expert radiologists, some studies are available within a hour, with an average turnaround time within 120 minutes.

We provide general and musculoskeletal imaging services for:

• Emergency Department patients, both adult and pediatric
• University Hospital inpatients, including the operating rooms

General Imaging services include x-rays, including chest, abdominal and bone x-rays. Musculoskeletal imaging services include cartilage, joints, ligaments muscles and tendons. In cases of medical urgency or emergency, some of our services can be brought to the patient as a portable x-ray

CT scanning, also called computed or computerized tomography, is an x-ray test used for diagnosis. X-rays are taken from a series of different angles and arranged by a computer to show a cross-sectional view of organs in the body. The Radiology Department at the Kaiser Permanente ACC offers standard CT Studies as well as cutting-edge high resolution and 3D CT angiography, all by board-certified, fellowship-trained experts.

Our divisions include:

• Abdominal – examinations of the abdomen and pelvis for detection of the full spectrum of conditions, plus advanced techniques, such as evaluation of abdominal aortic aneurysms for stent graft placement
• Cardiothoracic – we perform chest CT exams annually, including CT pulmonary angiography for the diagnosis of acute and chronic pulmonary embolism
• Musculoskeletal – full range of bone, joint and tissue CT scanning, including CT arthrography, which detects tears and their extent, such as for rotator cuffs
• Our studies and protocols make sure our patients receive the lowest dose of radiation required for their study. Having the very latest equipment allows for studies to be done quicker, which also lowers radiation exposure.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a technique that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create cross-sectional images of your head and body. These detailed images are used to diagnose a wide range of conditions. At the University of Michigan Radiology Department, the extensive MRI experience of our board-certified, fellowship-trained experts helps to ensure this form of imaging is used wisely, thereby limiting costly hospitalizations, surgical interventions and duplicate diagnostic imaging studies. While an x-ray is very good at showing bones, an MRI lets the radiologist see structures made of soft tissue such as ligaments and cartilage and organs such as your eyes, brain and heart. MRI can be used to view:

• Abdomen and pelvis
• Arteries and veins
• Bone and joint
• Breast
• Chest and heart
• Head, neck and spine

An MRI exam is painless. You don’t feel the magnetic field or radio waves. Most MRI machines consist of a large magnet shaped like a tunnel. You lie on a table that slides into the tunnel. A computer creates a composite, three-dimensional representation of your body. Two-dimensional images are then created and displayed on a monitor and/or converted into photographic film for further viewing and analysis.