Resources
Affiliations
Recognizing the importance of providing excellent clinical experiences with stimulating faculty and mentors, the School of Medicine has developed a comprehensive network of affiliations designed to encompass the continuum of medical care including ambulatory, acute hospital, home care, rehabilitation, and chronic care. In all programs medical students are trained by and fully supervised by faculty of the School of Medicine.
Over the past five years, a significant effort to coordinate, expand and improve the ambulatory care experience has resulted in an extensive ambulatory care network of opportunities. Clinical experiences are offered in multi-disciplinary teaching clinics, faculty practices, community clinics, private practices and hospital-based ambulatory care programs. Model geriatric clinical education programs, designed at three facilities with large cohorts of elderly patients, serve as stimulating educational experiences where computer-assisted learning augments the faculty preceptor patient experience.
Academic tertiary care experience, demonstrating state-of-the-art technology and ongoing exciting clinical research, is offered at the three major affiliates: the University of Maryland Medical Center, the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Mercy Medical Center. Additionally, community hospitals with major commitments to the importance of a teaching environment serve as outstanding opportunities for primary and secondary health experiences.
A successful network of community, state and federal psychiatric facilities has resulted in a widely acclaimed statewide program for psychiatry training. Special clinical research experience in psychiatry is additionally offered at the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and at the Perry Point Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Experience in rehabilitation, home care and chronic medical care is offered through several facilities, each offering special aspects of expertise for those who wish to pursue psychiatry, neuro-rehabilitation and geriatrics. The following sites have formal affiliations with the School of Medicine: Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Walter P. Carter Center, Children's National Medical Center (Washington, DC), Franklin Square Hospital, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Harbor Hospital Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Kernan Hospital, Maryland General Hospital, Mercy Medical Center, National Orthopedic Hospital, St. Agnes Hospital, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, Springfield Hospital Center, Spring Grove Hospital Center, Union Memorial Hospital, University of Maryland Medical Center (includes R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center), University Specialty Hospital, Western Maryland Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and York Hospital (PA).
The University of Maryland Medical Center
Located in downtown Baltimore, the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is a major, non-profit teaching hospital that provides a complete range of inpatient and outpatient services to more than 300,000 adults and children each year. UMMC is a national and regional referral center for trauma, cancer, neurocare, cardiac care, women's health services, children's health services and organ transplants. It has one of the largest kidney transplant programs in the world.
The medical center has 5,400 employees, 650 licensed beds, 30,000 inpatient admissions each year and 1,400 births annually. The senior medical staff - more than 800 physicians - is comprised of the clinical faculty of the School of Medicine who supervise training of the more than 600 graduate-physician house staff as well as the medical students.
The University of Maryland Medical Center includes University Hospital, the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and the University of Maryland Hospital for Children. It is the primary clinical setting for the University of Maryland School of Medicine. It is dedicated to providing exemplary health care for the people of Maryland, to preparing students and physicians-in-training for the practice of medicine and the allied health professions and to carrying out significant research to improve the quality of health care.
Since its founding in 1823, the medical center has become a major tertiary care center that offers a full range of specialized medical and surgical services. It has state-of the-art technology in all areas, including a new surgical facility. The medical center's "OR of the Future" occupies 52,000 square feet and combines the most advanced video technology with computerized equipment in order to enhance patient safety and operational efficiency. More than 15,800 surgeries are performed at the Medical Center each year. The surgical facility is located in the newly constructed, 380,000-square-foot Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building that also houses new, state-of-the-art adult and pediatric emergency departments, a new diagnostic imaging facility, an expansive new cafeteria and food court, a patient resource center, and an employee learning center. As the building's upper floors are finished, it will incorporate several new state-of-the-art intensive care units as well.
Because of its combined professional and academic environment, many outstanding treatment programs and research facilities have been developed at the medical center. The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center are two prime examples.
The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, linked with the statewide network of emergency communications, transportation and medical care facilities, is second to none. It provides high-speed emergency service to more than 7,000 critically injured persons each year - the most severe multiple trauma cases in the state - with an impressive 97 percent survival rate. A heliport on the roof of the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center facilitates rapid care of the most severely injured and acutely ill patients from throughout the state.
At the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, collaboration between research scientists and research clinicians has resulted in notable advances in treating the full spectrum of solid tumors and blood-related cancers. It was at our Cancer Center that researchers pioneered the freezing of a leukemia patient's own platelets for later use during relapses. The center's physicians work closely with radiation oncology, surgical oncology and related programs within the hospital, tailoring and coordinating the treatments for each patient's optimal care. The Cancer Center is nationally known for its blood and marrow transplant program and its research into new drug development.
Other centers of excellence include:
- University of Maryland Hospital for Children, which provides a full range of pediatric services. It houses the state's largest neonatal intensive care unit.
- The solid organ transplant program, which performs kidney, pancreas, simultaneous kidney-pancreas, liver, heart and lung transplants, as well as islet cell transplants. The comprehensive program continually surpasses national survival rates in every area.
- The Maryland Brain Attack Center, where physicians from neurology, in partnership with emergency medicine and diagnostic radiology, provide patients new treatments that help prevent disabilities from stroke by rapidly restoring blood flow to save brain tissue.
- The Gamma Knife Center, which allows patients with inoperable brain tumors and vascular malformations to have a non-surgical treatment option. It represents collaboration among specialists in radiation oncology and neurosurgery and was the first Gamma Knife Center in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
- University Sports Medicine, which provides injury prevention and treatment services to everyone from college athletes, such as the University of Maryland Terrapins, to weekend warriors. It is an example of the excellent programs in orthopaedics, which include the full range of care from joint replacements to spine surgery.
- An affiliation with the Institute of Human Virology, where world renowned experts led by Dr. Robert Gallo investigate the cures and prevention of chronic viral diseases, with AIDS as a top priority.
Through partnerships with the University of Maryland's professional schools, the University of Maryland Medical Center is the training site for pharmacists, social workers, dentists, nurses and other health professionals and technicians. This multi-dimensional professional environment is a unique and valued characteristic of the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Along with the School of Medicine, the University of Maryland Medical Center has met the needs of the rapidly changing local and regional health care market with expanded services. These services include:
- Three primary care sites in West Baltimore.
- Specialty care in the suburbs in Harford and Anne Arundel Counties and primary and specialty care at Shipley's Choice in Anne Arundel County.
The University of Maryland Medical Center is part of the six-hospital, private, non-profit University of Maryland Medical System. The other hospitals in the medical system are:
North Arundel Hospital, a 282-bed acute care hospital located between Baltimore and Annapolis in Anne Arundel County. This suburban community hospital is located approximately five miles south of Baltimore, and 25 miles northeast of Washington, DC. The facility offers a wide variety of services and has numerous areas of specialization including orthopaedics, cardiology, geriatrics and oncology.
Maryland General Hospital is a 242-bed community teaching institution located just northwest of downtown Baltimore that provides a full spectrum of care for more than 110,000 patients annually.
Kernan Hospital, with 123 beds, is Maryland's largest rehabilitation and orthopaedic hospital for both adults and children. Kernan Hospital includes the William Donald Schaefer Rehabilitation Center, with dedicated rehabilitation units for stroke, spinal cord and head injuries, and complex orthopaedic problems. Kernan is located in the Woodlawn area of Baltimore.
University Specialty Hospital, a 180-bed chronic care facility located in downtown Baltimore, focuses on the complex needs of chronically ill patients. It has the region's largest pulmonary ventilator program and Maryland's only coma emergency program.
Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital, a 102-bed pediatric and rehabilitation hospital located in northwest Baltimore, provides specialty medical care to infants and children with complex medical needs.
VA Maryland Health Care System
The VA Maryland Health Care System (VAMHCS) consists of two Maryland VA Medical Centers, located at Baltimore and Perry Point, and an independent 120-bed Rehabilitation and Extended Care Center on the Loch Raven campus located in Baltimore City. The VAMHCS also has five Community Based Outpatient Clinics: Fort Howard, serving Southeast Baltimore County; Cambridge, serving the Maryland Eastern Shore counties; Glen Burnie, serving Baltimore and Anne Arundel Counties; Loch Raven, serving North Baltimore County; and Pocomoke, serving the extreme southern tip of Maryland. Also, an Outpatient Mental Health Clinic is operational at Maryland Homeless Veterans, Inc., in Baltimore City.
The VAMHCS contains a fully computerized patient information system and a highly advanced electronic medical record. Terminals in all inpatient team rooms and outpatient exam rooms allow for ease of patient care and reduced non-productive time for students. The information system allows instantaneous clinical queries for clinical research and continuous improvement in patient care. Major increases in support staff assigned to house staff teams has resulted in decreased monotonous work for students and residents as support staff is more frequently available for routine phlebotomy, intravenous line adjustments, escort services and clerical support services. A major reconfiguration of nursing and support staff combined with computer designed programs has increased the efficiency of the medical care so that students, house staff and faculty can better spend their time on direct rather than indirect patient care, and on stimulating educational and clinical research areas rather than on cumbersome support delivery problems. The Bar Coded Medication Administration system is a state of the art example of the VAMHCS focus on patient safety and quality care. This system, along with the Physician Computer Order Entry feature of the computerized medical record, serves as a national model in the area of patient safety with respect to decreasing medication errors.
In the disciplines of medicine, surgery, psychiatry, neurology, anesthesiology, pathology, radiology, rehabilitation medicine, geriatrics and ambulatory care, there is close integration of the faculty, resident and undergraduate levels of the School of Medicine. More than 70 investigators have funded research programs in areas including infectious disease, geriatrics, exercise physiology, cardiology, immunology, neurology, oncology and schizophrenia. For the past five years, the VAMHCS has been among the top 10 veterans facilities in research funding in the nation.
Area Health Education Center Program
One of the University of Maryland, Baltimore's commitments to improving healthcare delivery in primary care is the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program.
The AHEC program has been developed to provide comprehensive healthcare education and training for undergraduate and graduate medical students, as well as for students from the other UMB health profession schools. AHECs attract students, interns and residents to rural and underserved areas, fostering their interest in practicing in such sites. AHEC activities promote increased numbers of physicians and other healthcare professionals, encourage the development of healthcare facilities, provide multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary training for health professionals, and increase capabilities for the existing program of graduate and continuing medical education and health training.
The University of Maryland School of Medicine has directed the Maryland AHEC Program for almost 30 years. The Maryland AHEC system is comprised of two rural centers and one urban center: the Western Maryland AHEC, the Eastern Shore AHEC and the Baltimore City AHEC. The Western Maryland AHEC, established in 1976, is located in Cumberland, a rural community in Allegany County. The Eastern Shore AHEC, domiciled in Cambridge at the Eastern Shore Hospital Center, has been in operation since 1995. Both centers afford students the opportunity to understand and experience the valuable and rewarding benefits of delivering primary healthcare in a rural environment. The Baltimore City AHEC, which became operational in 2003, aims to raise the health consciousness of the surrounding urban community by promoting good health and disease prevention and by helping to make primary healthcare services more accessible for those in need.
Medical school policy requires that students spend eight weeks of their senior year in clinical education at an ambulatory site. Students are encouraged to spend this mandatory rotation at rural and urban sites. Additionally, senior medical students may choose a rotation at one of the three AHEC sites as a primary care elective. These experiences are designed to encourage students to consider practice in similar settings and to gain a firm appreciation of the special health needs of rural and urban populations.
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