University of Virginia Health System
Encyclopedia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
. The health system includes a medical center, school of medicine and health sciences library. The health system provides inpatient and outpatient care, patient education and medical research and education in Charlottesville and at satellite care locations throughout Virginia, including Albemarle County, Amherst County, Augusta County, Campbell County, Fluvanna County, Louisa County, Nelson County and Orange County.
With a history dating back more than 180 years to the founding of the nation’s 10th medical school, the UVA Health System’s patient care, research and medical education are routinely ranked among the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
and other independent sources.
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 DunglisonRobley Dunglison
Robley Dunglison was an English physician who moved to America to join the first faculty of the University of Virginia. He was personal physician to Thomas Jefferson and considered the "Father of American Physiology".-Biography:...
, recruited by Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
to UVA from London.
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.
Health System Components
Part of the University of VirginiaUniversity of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, the University of Virginia Health System consists of five components:
- The University of Virginia Medical Center provides primary, specialty and emergency care throughout Central Virginia through a network of clinics as well as a main hospital that has more than 500 beds. Excluded from the 500 beds are 45 ICU beds for Neonates and newborns and 20 nursery beds. The Children's hospital is served by the Newborn Emergency Transport System (NETS) which transports critically ill newborns and pediatrics from all over the surrounding area and states back to UVA. The hospital serves as a Level 1 trauma center for the region and is accessible by ambulance as well as Pegasus, UVA Health System’s air and ground transport service for critically ill and injured patients. As an academic medical center, patients at UVA are treated by physicians who also serve as faculty members at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, providing access to state-of-the-art treatments researched by the faculty physicians. In the 2010 fiscal year, the UVA Medical Center treated 27,087 inpatients and had a total of 735,631 outpatient visits.
- The University of Virginia School of MedicineUniversity of Virginia School of MedicineThe University of Virginia School of Medicine is a medical school located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. The tenth medical school to open in the United States, it has been part of the University of Virginia since the University's establishment in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson...
has more than 1,000 faculty members who perform three main tasks: provide care to patients at the UVA Medical Center, educate medical students and residents and perform scientific medical research that may lead to improved care for patients at UVA and elsewhere. Leading research areas include cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases and vaccine development.
- The University of Virginia School of NursingUniversity of Virginia School of NursingThe University of Virginia School of Nursing, established in 1901, is a world-renowned school of nursing education. For more than one hundred years, it has been at the forefront of nursing education, service, and research. It has an enrollment of approximately 681 undergraduate and graduate...
has 94 faculty members who educate student nurses and perform research that will improve patient care at UVA and elsewhere. Leading research areas include rural healthcare, the history of nursing, complementary and alternative therapies, geriatrics and oncology.
- The Claude Moore Health Sciences Library provides access to printed and online medical information, medical news and the history of healthcare to faculty, students and staff as well as the public.
- The University Physicians Group is the physician group practice that processes billing for UVA physician services.
Awards
U.S. News & World ReportSeveral UVA Medical Center departments are regularly ranked among the top 50 in the country by U.S. News & World Report. These are the departments that made the magazine’s 2007 rankings:
| Department | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Endocrinology | 8th |
| Gynecology | 22nd |
| Cancer | 27th |
| Neurology and Neurosurgery | 29th |
| Respiratory Disorders | 39th |
| Digestive Disorders | 47th |
| Urology | 49th |
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 and 38th among medical schools for primary care.
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. 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. 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.
Magnet Recognition for Nurses
In 2006, UVA Medical Center received Magnet Recognition status for its nurses from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. About 4.45 percent of all healthcare organizations in the U.S. have received magnet status. Criteria for the award include quality of nursing care, measures for quality improvement and quality of nursing leadership.
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.
Individual Awards
Dr. Thomas A.E. Platts-Mills, FRS
Thomas Platts-Mills
Thomas A.E. Platts-Mills, MD, PhD, FRS served as President of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology from March 2006 to March 2007. He is Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the University of Virginia and has been head of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology since...
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, the first allergist to be named to this select group.