Inpatient Care

If you or a loved one are admitted to Story County Medical Center, you will be located on the Acute Care Unit of the hospital. Story County Medical Center has a 17 bed Acute Care Unit. Patients on the Acute Care Unit are inpatients, which means they will be cared for at the hospital rather than at home. As a patient on the Acute Care Unit, you or your loved one may be one of the following four classifications of patients:

Acute Care

Acute care services are generally delivered by teams of health care professionals from a range of medical and surgical specialties. Acute care may require a stay in a hospital with 24 hour care along with assistance from diagnostic and therapy services. Hospital-based acute inpatient care typically has the goal of discharging patients as soon as they are deemed healthy and stable.

Skilled Care

Skilled Care is care given on an inpatient, 24-hour basis designed to help a patient recover from illness, injury or surgery; function more independently; and/or learn to care for his/her own health needs. Patients who have undergone surgery may be reassigned from Acute Care to Skilled Care for extended rehabilitation.

Respite Care

Respite Care is short-term or temporary care (from a few hours to a few weeks) given to a sick or disabled patient to provide relief, or respite, to the regular caregiver, usually a family member.

Observation Status

A patient may be placed in Observation by a physician while the physician determines the best level of care the patient needs. A patient may be in Observation while he/she awaits testing or the results of tests already performed.