The University of Chicago Medical Center

The University of Chicago Medical Center includes the adult facility, the Bernard Mitchell Hospital, the Comer Children's Hospital, eleven additional specialty hospitals and over 60 general and specialty clinics housed in a state-of-the-art outpatient facility, the Center for Advanced Medicine. In addition to being licensed for 400 inpatient teaching beds there are more than 400,000 annual outpatient visits. The hospital has achieved the vaunted U.S. News and World Report "Honor Role" status every year since its inception and our nursing care programs enjoy "Magnet" status!

Transplantation, highly complex cancer treatment, aeromedical transport, extensive research programs and the ability to care for both primary and complex medical patients characterizes the mission of the Medical Center.

The Adult Emergency Department (ED) is on the first floor of the Mitchell intensive care tower. The adult emergency department sees 53,000 adult patients and accounts for 25 percent of hospital admissions. The Adult ED consists of 36 patient care beds, including three trauma/resuscitation suites and separate rooms for infection isolation, care of immune compromised patients, and psychiatric consultations. In the general care area, 31 rooms are fully equipped with critical care monitoring capabilities.

The Comer Children's Hospital (Pediatric) ED came on line in late 2007 and consists of 28 critical care beds for monitoring acutely ill patients; all are private examining rooms; in addition there are two speicalized isolation rooms, a procedure room with gas anesthesia available, a large orthopedic room with mobile fluoroscopy, and two large trauma resuscitation suites (OR level capability). The Pediatric ED is attended and directed by full-time pediatric emergency medicine specialists. The Pediatric ED patient census for 2008 was 33,000, thus a total of nearly 90,000 emergency patients are taken care of annually at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The University of Chicago Medical Center directs prehospital care for the entire south side of Chicago. The command center for the Chicago South Mobile Intensive Care System is located in a specialized telemetry room within the adult emergency department. Other facilities in the Emergency Department include a well equipped laboratory for use by the ED staff, a classroom, and a decontamination room specifically equipped to handle hazardous materials, including radiation decontamination.

The Department of Radiology is immediately adjacent to the Emergency Department providing quick access for emergency procedures. All past, current and emergent radiographs, including general, CT and MRI images are immediately available in the ED via a digitalized radiology imaging system.

The three trauma/resuscitation suites are immediately adjacent to the ambulance bay. The main trauma suite is equipped with a video camera and monitor which is used to record and review resuscitations. This experience is invaluable for analyzing and learning from the acute care setting. The faculty feel that this facility provides an environment which is conducive to optimal patient care and the education of residents.We are pleased to report that a major renovation and expansion of our adult emergency department was completed in July of 2005.

Lutheran General Hospital
Lutheran General Hospital is located in the north suburbs and has been a primary emergency medicine residency training site since 1976. This 700+ bed institution provides a broad range of inpatient and outpatient services. In addition to general medical and surgical services, special emphasis is given to meeting the needs of high-risk pregnant women, critically ill infants and children, persons suffering from psychiatric disorders and persons with cancer and heart disease.

The hospital serves more than more than 55,000 emergency department patients, 25,000 admitted patients, and 100,000 outpatients per year. It is a State of Illinois and City of Chicago level I trauma center for both adult and pediatric patients.

In addition to emergency medicine, the hospital serves as a principal training site for residencies in surgery, internal medicine, family practice, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, pediatrics, orthopedics, and pathology.

The hospital has one of the largest multi-place hyperbaric oxygen chambers in the country and serves as a resource center for the entire state. It boasts a comprehensive library, an extensive media resources department which includes a television studio, and a complete fitness center.

The Emergency Department was remodeled in 2002 and is state of the art in design technology and monitoring capabilities. There are 31 treatment rooms with three trauma resuscitation suites; all areas of the department are fully equipped and capable of caring for the critically ill or injured patient. Specialized assistance for the acutely ill child is provided by the presence in the department of a pediatric emergency specialist for 12 hours per day.

NorthShore University HealthSystem (NUH)

Our newest partner for the education of our residents is the NorthShore University HealthSystem (NUH/Evanston) located in the North Shore suburb of Evanston. This is a major affiliation for both the education of our University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine medical students and for University of Chicago house staff, particularly for our emergency medicine residents. Starting July 2009, we will have residents at all levels of training fully integrated in educational experiences at NUH. This is an especially rewarding affiliation for our Program as NUH/Evanston is one of the oldest emergency medicine residency educational sites (since 1974).

NUH/Evanston is a 500 bed hospital that provides a broad range of inpatient and outpatient services. The institution supports one of the most well regarded emergency medicine simulation centers in the country, is a City of Chicago/regional-designated level I trauma center, has a busy ED that sees 40,000 adult and pediatric patients, and is a center of excellence for toxicology, cancer, cardiovascular, GI, obsterics-gynecology, neurosciences and pediatric care.

Mt. Sinai Hospital
Mt.Sinai Hospital is a private, not for profit, community teaching hospital which is located on the near southwest side of Chicago. The Mt Sinai health care system is dedicated to the care of a primarily medically under served population and the primary and satellite citywide clinic system provided care to 270,000 outpatients. The emergency department had over 50,000 patient visits last year and more than 18,000 admitted patients were admitted to the hospital.

The hospital is a designated City of Chicago and State of Illinois level I trauma center for both pediatric and adult patients. Approximately 2,000 level I trauma victims were taken care of last year, nearly 50% having sustained penetrating trauma. In addition to emergency medicine, the hospital and clinics serve as a primary training site for residencies in surgery, internal medicine, family practice, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics andpsychiatry. Students from Chicago Medical School rotate on all clinical services, including emergency medicine, during their third and fourth years.

The emergency department was remodeled and opened September 1998. This facility reflects the latest in design and technological innovations in emergency care. The 24 treatment areas include cardiac care rooms with continuous 12 lead cardiac monitoring, multiple fully equipped trauma resuscitation bays with OR capabilities, separate areas for OB/Gyn, isolation, medical, surgical, pediatric, and disruptive patients. In addition, there is a separate seven room fast track area immediately adjacent to the main emergency treatment area that is staffed seven days per week.