University Hospital is a non-profit 581-bed private hospital located in downtown Augusta, Georgia. Established in 1818, it is the second-oldest hospital in Georgia. Although University Hospital is considered a teaching institution, it does not currently sponsor an academic program resulting in a degree. University Hospital is no longer directly affiliated with the Medical College of Georgia or Augusta University. University Hospital is a fully private hospital receiving no local or state funding.
In addition to its main hospital campus, the University Health System has outpatient medical offices and imaging centers servicing the surrounding 25-county region comprising the CSRA (Georgia and South Carolina). University Health System boasts a wide variety of primary care and specialty physicians such as Endocrinology, Oncology, Neuroscience, Heart and Vascular, Rheumatology and Gastroenterology[1]. One of the newest additions to the health system is a 25-bed medical center located in McDuffie County offers residents medical and health services for people of the surrounding area. [2]
Since 1999, hospital has been named the Consumer Choice Award. winner for overall quality and image. The Consumer Choice Award is based on an independent survey of consumers conducted by National Research Corporation to recognize the most preferred hospitals in metropolitan areas across the country. This places University hospital in an elite group of hospitals nationwide.
Accreditations
Joint Commission
University Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, an independent, not-for-profit organization, established more than 50 years ago. Joint Commission is governed by a board that includes physicians, nurses and consumers and sets the standards by which health care quality is measured in America and around the world.
Magnet
In 2005, the American Nurses Credentialing Center(ANCC) announced University Hospital achieved the prestigious Magnet accreditation. Upon review and re-designation survey in May 2010, University Hospital remains a leader in innovative quality patient care in the CSRA.
The ANCC's Magnet Recognition Program for excellence in nursing services is considered one of the highest honors that can be received for outstanding achievement in nursing.
University Hospital is the only Magnet Hospital in Augusta and one of only six in the state of Georgia and 424 world-wide.
Chest Pain
In 2009, University Hospital received full Cycle II Accreditation with Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from the Accreditation Review Committee of the Society of Chest Pain Centers. Formerly known as angioplasty, PCI encompasses procedures performed in the cardiac catheterization lab to unblock a clogged artery leading to the heart.
The Chest Pain Center at University Hospital demonstrated its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers.
Key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include:
- Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system
- Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quickly
- Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms
- Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
- Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training
- Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
- Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
- Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack
In November 2015, University Hospital was granted Version 5 Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI Accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Care. [3]
Breast Health Center
In 2009, University Hospital’s Breast Health Center was granted a three-year/full accreditation designation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers(NAPBC), a program administered by the American College of Surgeons.
University has the only nationally accredited breast health center in the region and is only the second one in the state to be honored with this recognition.
Accreditation by the NAPBC is only given to those centers that have voluntarily committed to provide the highest level of quality breast care and that undergo a rigorous evaluation process and review of their performance. During the survey process, the center must demonstrate compliance with standards established by the NAPBC for treating women who are diagnosed with the full spectrum of breast disease.
History
Augusta's commitment to care for the "sick poor" resulted in the building of a poor house and hospital on the 100 block of Greene Street in 1818. The first City Hospital provided local physicians an opportunity for medical education and became the first home of the Medical College of Georgia in 1829. While City Hospital generally served white patients, a Freedman's Hospital was opened to care for the many African-Americans who migrated to Augusta following the American Civil War.
Augusta's City and Lamar hospitals (replacing Freedman's) operated under the auspices of local government, with medical and surgical control provided by medical college faculty. Nursing education was started at both hospitals in the 1890s, which would later evolve into the University Hospital School of Nursing.
City and Lamar hospitals were brought under one facility with the opening of a replacement hospital in 1915, which was named "University" in recognition of the ongoing clinical association with the medical college. Having Barrett, Lamar and later Milton Antony and Jennings wings, the first University Hospital served Augusta's citizens for 55 years.
Political upheaval caused the medical college to construct its own teaching facility, which opened as Talmadge Hospital in the 1950s. The Richmond County Hospital Authority moved to replace the aging University wings with a modern hospital, complete with coronary care and intensive care units, which opened in 1970.
References
External links
- University Health System â€" official website
- Heart & Vascular Institute
- Outpatient Center
- Columbia County Campus
- Evans Campus
- South Richmond County Campus
- Brandon Wilde
- Kentwood Extended Care
- Westwood Extended Care
- Surgery Center of Columbia County
- Evans Imaging Center
