University of Virginia Health System

Coordinates: 38°1′56.3″N 78°29′55″W / 38.032306°N 78.49861°W / 38.032306; -78.49861

Aerial view of UVA Health System campus in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The University of Virginia Health System is an academic health care center associated with the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The health system includes a medical center (with main hospital, children's hospital, and clinic network), school of medicine, school of nursing, and health sciences library. The health system provides inpatient and outpatient care and patient education and conducts medical research and education.

Based in Charlottesville, the Health System also operates satellite locations throughout Virginia, in Albemarle, Amherst, Augusta, Campbell, Fluvanna, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange counties.

The first medical degrees granted by UVA were awarded in 1828. The University of Virginia Hospital, designed by architect Paul J. Pelz, opened in 1901.[1]

The UVA Health System's patient care,[2] research and medical education[3] are frequently ranked highly by U.S. News & World Report and by other rankings.[4]

History

The UVA Health System’s history can be traced to the founding of the University of Virginia in 1819. At the first meeting of the university’s Board of Visitors in 1819, a School of Medicine was authorized. The School of Medicine – the 10th medical school in the U.S. – officially opened in March 1825 with a single professor, Dr. Robley Dunglison, recruited by Thomas Jefferson to UVA from London.[5]

More than 75 years later, UVA opened its first hospital in March 1901 with 25 beds and three operating rooms. A few months after its opening, the hospital established a training program for nurses. That training program would grow into the UVA School of Nursing, which was formally established in 1956.

Just as medical education has been a part of UVA since its founding, so too has medical literature – the 8,000 books purchased by Jefferson to create the University Library included 710 books on the medical sciences. UVA’s medical literature moved to the UVA Medical School building in 1929. Its current home was dedicated in April 1976. The UVA Health Services Foundation was founded in 1979 to handle billing as well as provide benefits and administrative support to UVA physicians. The UVA Health Services Foundation was renamed University Physicians Group in 2011.

In 2012, Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Pharmacy opened a satellite location at the University of Virginia Medical Center.[6]

In August 2013, with a change in the leadership structure, Dr. Richard Patrick Shannon joined the University of Virginia as the Executive Vice President for Health Affairs.[7] He oversees the entire Health System at UVA and reports directly UVA President Teresa Sullivan.

Components

The University of Virginia Health System consists of five components:

Awards

U.S. News & World Report

Several UVA Medical Center departments are ranked among the top 50 in the country by U.S. News & World Report.[2] These are the departments that made the magazine’s 2011 rankings:

Department Ranking
Endocrinology & Diabetes 13th
Gynecology 44th
Cancer 48th
Neurology and Neurosurgery 29th

UVA’s School of Medicine and School of Nursing have also been highly ranked by U.S. News & World Report. In the 2007 rankings, the School of Medicine was ranked 23rd among medical schools for research[10] and 38th among medical schools for primary care.[11]

The School of Nursing’s master’s degree program was ranked 19th in 2007 by U.S. News & World Report, while the magazine ranked two of the school’s specialty programs in the top 10.[12] The School of Nursing’s Clinical Health Specialist program in psychiatric/mental health ranked 5th, while its Clinical Health Specialist program in adult/medical-surgical ranked 6th.

Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals

On March 30, 2009, the UVA medical center was named as one of the top 100 hospitals in America for 2008 by the Thomson Reuters.[13] The index is based upon clinical excellence, operating efficiency and financial health, and patient satisfaction using criteria such as risk-adjusted mortality index, risk-adjusted complications index and risk-adjusted patient safety index.[14]

America’s Top Doctors

Fifty doctors from UVA Health System were chosen for inclusion in 2006 for the sixth edition of Castle Connolly's America’s Top Doctors. Nineteen UVA Health System physicians were chosen for a companion listing, America’s Top Doctors For Cancer.[15]

Individual Awards

Dr. Thomas A.E. Platts-Mills, FRS is the head of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology . In 2010, Dr. Platts-Mills was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society,[16] the first allergist to be named to this select group.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Milestones: School of Medicine University of Virginia". School of Medicine Official Website. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  2. 1 2 "America's Best Hospitals 2007". U.S. News and World Report. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  3. ↑ "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008: Top Medical Schools". U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  4. ↑ "ANCC Magnet Recognition Program". American Nurses Credentialing Center. Archived from the original on 2007-09-19. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  5. ↑ "History-School of Medicine at the University of Virginia". School of Medicine Official Website. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  6. ↑ "History".
  7. ↑ "Dr. Richard Shannon New Executive Vice President for Health Affairs". School of Medicine Official News. 2013-08-15.
  8. ↑ "Facts at a Glance". UVA Health System Official Website. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  9. ↑ "America's Top Doctors Names 48 UVA Physicians as Best in their Fields". UVA Health System Official Website. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  10. ↑ "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008: Top Medical Schools-Research". U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
  11. ↑ "America's Best Graduate Schools 2008: Top Medical Schools-Primary Care". U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  12. ↑ "In the Rankings". UVA School of Nursing Official Website. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  13. ↑ "100 Top Hospitals". Archived from the original on March 28, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  14. ↑ "100 Top Hospitals". Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
  15. ↑ America's Top Doctors (6 ed.). Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. 2006.
  16. ↑ www.royalsociety.org : The Royal Society
  17. ↑ http://uvahealth.com/about/news-room/archives/asthma-allergic-diseases-center-director-thomas-platts-mills-md-phd-elected-as-a-fellow-to-the-royal-society/

External links

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