Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Geography
Location 21st Ave. & Garland Ave., Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Organization
Care system Private
Hospital type Academic
Affiliated university Vanderbilt University
Services
Standards JCAHO accreditation
Emergency department Level I trauma center
Beds 832[1]
History
Founded 1874
Links
Website http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu
Lists Hospitals in Tennessee

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is a collection of several hospitals and clinics, as well as the schools of medicine and nursing associated with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Contents

Overview

It comprises the following units:[2]

VUMC also operates over 50 satellite clinics in Tennessee and neighboring Kentucky, serving an extensive patient base.[3] In 2008, the Medical Center began moving 23 clinics and administrative offices into the renovated 100 Oaks Mall in the Berry Hill section of Nashville, filling 440,000 square feet (41,000 m2) of space. The move into the mall will largely be completed in 2009.[4]

VUMC is known for its highly-acclaimed teaching hospital and its groundbreaking efforts in electronic medical records. Its 1,800 physicians see more than 1.2 million patients each year and its hospitals admit more than 65,000 patients. Revenue from operations exceeds $2 billion annually and the Medical Center employs 14,000 full time staff. More than 600 physician scientists in more than 100 laboratories conducted more than $389 million of federally and corporately sponsored research as of 2007.[5]

Rankings and awards

VUMC was ranked 15th in the United States in the 2008 "America's Best Hospitals" ranking by U.S. News & World Report and was one of only 19 hospitals in the country named to the publication's "Honor Roll", which is based on excellence across a broad spectrum of medical specialties. Vanderbilt programs ranked by USNWR in 2008 were Gynecology (ranked 9), Kidney (9), Urology (10), Cancer (14), Ear Nose and Throat (14), Endocrinology (15), Respiratory Disorders (18), Heart (23), General Pediatrics (23), Neonatal Care (14), and Pediatric Neurology and Neurosurgery (20).[6]

Vanderbilt University was named in Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for 2009. More than 80% of the university's employees work for the Medical Center.[7]

In 2011 The Leapfrog Group ranked Vanderbilt University Hospital in its 2011 Top 100 hospitals list.[8]

Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital

The "Vanderbilt Children's Hospital" has been in operation since the 1970s, but was housed in the main Vanderbilt hospital until 2004.[9] Monroe J. Carell, Jr., former CEO of Central Parking Corporation, raised $79 million for the construction of a new stand-alone facility, including $20 million from his family's personal donations and additional money secured through fundraising efforts.[10][11]

History

Vanderbilt faculty have won two Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine. In 1971 Earl Sutherland, Jr., received the prize for his discovery of Cyclic AMP. Stanley Cohen received a Nobel in 1986, as he shared the award with Rita Levi-Montalcini of Italy for their discovery of epidermal growth factor, a hormone that can speed up certain biological processes.

Some other important research firsts from Vanderbilt's history: • In 1933, Alfred Blalock and his research assistant Vivien Thomas conducted pioneering research leading to the first cardiothoracic surgery for infants born with "blue baby syndrome". Blalock's work was essential to the development of open heart surgery.[12] • In the early 1940s, Ernest Goodpasture developed the method of culturing vaccines in chick embryos, which allowed the mass production of vaccines to prevent viral diseases worldwide.[13] • In the 1950s, Amos U. Christie, chair of pediatrics, led a team that achieved worldwide notice for pioneering work in histoplasmosis.[14]

Patient care

Vanderbilt operates the only Level 1 Trauma Center, the only Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the only Level 3 Burn Unit in its region. (Each of those levels represents the highest in its field.)[5] The LifeFlight helicopter ambulance service has five helicopters, operated by Air Methods but staffed with Vanderbilt Flight Therapists and Nurses, and an airplane transport and makes more than 1,500 flights a year. Vanderbilt also offers an organ transplantation center. Vanderbilt's first kidney transplant was in 1962; since then there have been more than 3,000 kidneys transplanted at Vanderbilt. VUMC has also had more than 600 liver transplants and 600 heart and lung transplants. Among Vanderbilt’s other transplant milestones were Tennessee's first pancreas transplant in 1985, the first successful heart-lung transplant in the state, in 1987, the first pediatric heart transplant in the state in 1987, and the first triple organ transplant of heart, lungs and liver in 2000.[15] The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is one of 42 National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers, and the only one in Tennessee that provides treatment for adult and pediatric cancers.[16] The center is also a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a non-profit alliance of 21 centers focused on improving quality and efficiency of cancer care.[17]

Research

VUMC ranked 10th among the 126 medical schools in the United States in receipt of research funding from the National Institutes of Health in 2007 and remains one of the fastest growing programs in the country.[5]

Education

Both the Vanderbilt School of Medicine and the Vanderbilt School of Nursing rank in the top 20 in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. The School of Medicine was founded in 1874 and currently has 428 students, including 37 M.D./Ph.D. students. There are 1,800 faculty members in the School of Medicine.

The School of Nursing was founded in 1908. It became a part of the Medical Center in 1984 and phased out its undergraduate nursing degree in 1989 and became exclusively a graduate school with a mission of educating advanced level nurses. One of the innovative programs of the school is the Bridge program, which admits students from educational backgrounds other than nursing and allows them to complete a course of work leading to an advanced practice nursing degree. The school also offers doctorates in both research and clinical nursing. There are 635 students and 171 full time faculty at the School of Nursing.[5]

References

  1. ^ "RE:VU: Quick facts about Vanderbilt University". Vanderbilt University. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/facts.html. Retrieved 2007-07-02. 
  2. ^ "Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Visitors". Vanderbilt University. http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/root/visitors.html. Retrieved 2007-07-02. 
  3. ^ http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/maps/
  4. ^ http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/houseorgan/One_Hundred_Oaks.htm
  5. ^ a b c d Vanderbilt Medical Center Facts 2008
  6. ^ U.S. News & World Report, July 21–28, 2008
  7. ^ "100 Best Companies to Work For 2009: Full list". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/full_list/. 
  8. ^ "The Leapfrog Group Announces Annual Top Hospitals List" (in English) (Press release). The Leapfrog Group. December 1, 2010. http://www.leapfroggroup.org/news/leapfrog_news/4784748. Retrieved 12/26/2011. 
  9. ^ Sanchez, Christina E. (May 28, 2010). "Children's hospital expansion to resume". The Tennessean. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100528/NEWS01/5280346/Vanderbilt+Children+s+Hospital+to+build+%3Cbr%3E+30+million+addition. Retrieved 11 June 2010. 
  10. ^ "Vanderbilt Board member, Children’s Hospital namesake Monroe Carell dies". Vanderbilt University. http://frontweb.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/vuse_web/news/Releases/MonroeCarell.htm. Retrieved 11 June 2010. 
  11. ^ Wood, E. Thomas (Jun 20, 2008). "Monroe Carell passes away". NashvillePost.com. http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2008/6/20/monroe_carell_passes_away. Retrieved 11 June 2010. 
  12. ^ Jacobson, Timothy C (1987). Making Medical Doctors: Science and Medicine at Vanderbilt Since Flexner. University of Alabama Press. p. 197. 
  13. ^ Jacobson, 222.
  14. ^ Project MUSE
  15. ^ Vanderbilt Transplant - History
  16. ^ Comprehensive Cancer Information - National Cancer Institute
  17. ^ NCCN - Cancer Guidelines for Patients and Physicians by Cancer Experts

External links