UC Davis Medical Center

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UC Davis Medical Center
Location
Place Sacramento, California, (US)
Organization
Care System Private, Medicaid, Medicare
Hospital Type Teaching
Affiliated University University of California, Davis
Services
Emergency Dept. Level I trauma center
Beds 577
Speciality Unknown
History
Founded 1852
Links
Website Homepage
See also Hospitals in California


The UC Davis Medical Center is a major research hospital located in Sacramento, California and is the primary teaching hospital of UC Davis School of Medicine. Researchers and specialists at the 577 licensed bed medical center work in over 150 areas of specialty. The UC Davis hospital has been ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation in the 2004 survey of US News and World Report. Particularly respected are its programs in heart surgery and ear, nose, and throat treatment. It is also a Level I trauma center for both adults and pediatrics[1] [2].

Contents

[edit] History

Founded in 1852 as the Sacramento County Hospital, the hospital began its association with the University of California in 1966. In 1973 the university purchased the hospital and renamed it The University of California, Davis Medical Center.

[edit] Construction Activity

The construction activity that will predominate at UC Davis Medical Center for the next several years is designed to achieve dual purposes: to comply with a state law governing seismic safety for hospitals, and to satisfy a pressing need for more space and modernized facilities.

Like all of the approximately 470 acute-care hospitals in California, UC Davis Medical Center is working to comply with SB 1953, which outlines sweeping seismic safety standards. The law requires that, by 2008, all general acute-care inpatient buildings at risk of collapsing during a strong earthquake must be rebuilt, retrofitted or closed.

As part of its compliance plan for SB 1953, the medical center will demolish the North-South Wing of the hospital. Much of the new construction is required to provide replacement space for the functions in the North-South Wing.

At the same time, the half-dozen major projects that will be in progress through 2008 will address a variety of urgent needs that will permit the medical center to maintain its role as an indispensable resource for the Sacramento region’s health and well-being. The projects will:

  • provide additional, critically needed hospital beds, operating rooms and space for the emergency department;
  • provide for the medical center’s energy needs;
  • establish a state-of-the-art medical library;
  • provide classrooms, conference space and other facilities to improve and expand educational opportunities for medical students, residents, nurses and other health-care professionals;
  • expand the UC Davis Cancer Center to accommodate new equipment, additional patients and doctors; and
  • construct quarters for a new research center being established with the help of $40 million from the National Science Foundation.

The medical center must accommodate an increasing demand for inpatient services through additional beds and operating rooms. The increased demand for surgical cases has been so dramatic that elective surgeries must be performed on weekends and evenings.

The medical center also has been operating at capacity for several years. On occasion, it has been forced to turn away all but the most seriously ill and injured patients because the hospital is completely full. The problem is likely to worsen with a growing population, growing numbers of uninsured patients who crowd emergency rooms because they cannot obtain care elsewhere, and a severe nursing shortage that is straining area hospitals.

[edit] External links

[edit] Official Web sites

[edit] Student Web sites

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.emsa.ca.gov/emsdivision/trma_ctr.pdf
  2. ^ http://www.facs.org/trauma/verified.html


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