Emergency clinic

Our emergency clinic provides services for patients whose situation requires immediate care in order to avoid more severe symptoms or further injuries.

The current recommendation states that all patients visiting the emergency clinic should arrive alone if possible. For more information on how the corona virus affects the hospital, see here.

When to contact emergency services?

Emergency – call 112 When someone’s life is in danger, call the emergency number 112 immediately. Such situations include for example cardiac arrest or unconsciousness.

Acute situations – seek immediate care In acute situations, seek immediate care. Such situations include for example sudden symptoms of paralysis, chest pain, and breathing difficulties. See the list of symptoms that require immediate care.

Non-life threatening situations – ALWAYS call Medical Helpline 116 117 first If your life is not in danger but your situation still requires urgent care or examinations, seek help from your own health centre. You can assess the urgency of your situation at omaolo.fi or at paivystystalo.fi by clicking at the “Should you go to the emergency department?” section. See the on-call hours and phone numbers of health centres here. If your own health centre is closed, always call the on-call Medical Helpline 116 117first. Your call is answered by a nurse who will assess your situation and give you instructions on how to proceed. This number is free of charge. If you cannot get hold of the Medical Helpline in a reasonable time, you can seek help for urgent matters from the emergency clinic.

Non-urgent care – contact your health centre Long-term illnesses and prescription renewals are taken care of in health centres. Health centres also take care of minor injuries such as sprains and small cuts, and ear or back pains. For help and self-care instructions on sudden health issues, visit the Emergencyhub website.

Parking in the hospital

When to seek immediate care?

In an emergency

When someone’s life is in danger, call the emergency number 112 immediately.

In acute situations

Seek immediate care if the patient shows signs of:

• new symptoms of paralysis
• severe chest pain
• breathing difficulties
• major injuries and bone fractures
• heavy bleeding (such as vomiting of blood, or nose bleed)
• sudden or worsening abdominal pain
• decreased consciousness, sudden delirium
• sudden severe headache
• a baby under 3 months old has a high fever (more than 38 °C)
• a sudden allergic reaction
• medicinal or other poisoning
• eye injury
• sudden or worsening symptoms of a psychosis or mania
• sudden or worsening wish to die, or suicidal thoughts

Medical Helpline 116 117

The Medical Helpline 116 117 is a national helpline for social and health care services. The helpline provides help in urgent situations that are not life-threatening, especially during on-call hours. The number is free of charge, and it operates 24 hours a day. You can also leave a callback request. If you cannot get hold of the helpline in a reasonable time, you can seek immediate care from the emergency clinic.

Your calls are answered by medical professionals who assess your situation over the phone. You will receive self-care instructions as well as information on where to go. The Medical Helpline can also refer you to a doctor who will contact you over the phone if your situation does not require the doctor to meet you in person. The Medical Helpline can also help you with urgent dental care.

If the Medical Helpline tells you to visit the emergency clinic in the Central Hospital, another nurse will assess your situation there face to face. Sometimes it is impossible to properly assess the situation without seeing the patient. If the nurse at the emergency clinic assesses your situation as non-urgent, you will receive self-care instructions and information on where to seek help later.

In Central Finland, the Medical Helpline is operated by the Central Finland Health Care District. However, the medical professional may answer your call from somewhere else in Finland.

On-call services in a nutshell

The Central Finland Central Hospital Emergency Clinic is one of the biggest emergency clinics in Finland, and it forms an integral part of the acute care unit, the so-called Hot Hospital, in Hospital Nova. The premises in Hospital Nova are new and modern, with mostly brand-new equipment, and we provide our patients with high-quality emergency care. Our patients make 70–75,000 visits to the emergency clinic every year. Our patients are of all ages, and represent nearly all medical specialty fields – only labors are taken care of in their own unit. We are always open.

The goal of the on-call services is to provide emergency patients as well as other patients who fall ill suddenly with the acute care they need, as fast as possible. We have access to medical imaging and laboratory services 24 hours a day. We have beds for 54 patients, and designated areas for children as well as substance abuse patients. Emergency patients are treated in the acute room that forms the heart of the emergency clinic. We are highly experienced in providing trauma patients with effective care, and treatments such as thrombolysis for stroke patients.

Our on-call staff includes both general practitioners and medical specialists 24 hours a day. We have approximately twenty doctors working in the emergency clinic, and 11 of them are medical specialists. Most of them are specialized in emergency medicine. They can treat all of the most common injuries and illnesses that require immediate care. The nursing staff consists of more than 100 medical professionals. In the evenings, nurses who have taken nurse prescribing courses have a reception where they can for example prescribe medication for urinary tract infections, or perform minor operations such as stitch wounds. Our cast-making professionals are always on-call and ready to help patients with broken bones.

At the emergency clinic, we value multiprofessional teamwork. Acute care for psychiatric patients is provided by both the emergency clinic doctors and the 24 h acute psychiatric care team. During office hours, the emergency team is supported by a medical social worker, a substance abuse nurse, and a patient coordinator who helps patients with discharge-related matters and coordinates further care. The emergency unit also includes premises for first responders and 24 h social services.

In the emergency unit, there are also separate premises for the appointment-only urgent reception for Kuokkala and Central Jyväskylä health centres.

At the emergency clinic

Our emergency clinic is located in the NOVA1 end of Hospital Nova. It is easy to access from the parking hall as well as bus stops. If you come by car, please note that parking is only allowed in designated parking spaces, as the rest of the hospital area is in a no-parking zone.

When arriving at the emergency clinic, patients check in using self-service check-in kiosks. After that, a nurse will assess each patient’s need of care and refer them to the emergency clinic or another care provider. If the situation does not require urgent medical care, the nurse gives instructions for self-care at home. Patients brought in by an ambulance arrive through their own entrance, and their care assessments are provided by the paramedics.

Patients should seek help from the emergency clinic when their primary care provider has closed, or the situation requires immediate care. The emergency clinic provides immediate care and examinations for patients who require them because of an acute illness, an injury, or a sudden change in their long-time illness or ability to function. In the emergency clinic, patients are treated in the order of urgency, so the waiting times vary. For all non-urgent matters, patients should seek help from their own health centre or the provider of their care.

The emergency clinic is not covered by the hospital meal services. Food and snacks can be purchased from the restaurant and cafe inside the hospital. However, it is important that all patients consult the staff before eating or drinking anything, as many of the examinations carried out in the emergency clinic require an empty stomach.

Please don’t hesitate to give us feedback on your care! You can leave your feedback to the staff already during your visit. We are here for you, and we wish to improve our work based on the feedback we get!

Patient’s family and friends

Our emergency clinic is located in the NOVA1 end of Hospital Nova. It is easy to access both from the parking halls and bus stops. If you come by car, please note that parking is only allowed in designated parking spaces, as the rest of the hospital area is in a no-parking zone.

We believe that family and friends play an important role in our patients’ care. However, we cannot allow anyone to wait by the patients’ beds because of the privacy of other patients. We are not allowed to give information on a patient’s health unless the patient has given us permission. Patients are allowed to use their own phone in the emergency clinic, and we encourage family and friends to contact the patient directly. If a patient does not have a phone or they’re not answering, please call the switchboard, tel.  +385 14 269 1811. The switchboard is open Mon-Fri at 7-20, and during weekends and public holidays at 8-16. Outside the hours, please contact +358 14 269 1828 with your inquiries.

In the emergency clinic, patients are treated in the order of urgency. This means that patients whose lives are at risk or who need urgent care are treated first, so the waiting times vary. Because of this we are also unable to give exact estimations of waiting times.