State of the Art Learning Facilities

Health Sciences Center

The University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine is part of a health sciences complex that includes University Hospital and Clinics, Columbia Regional Hospital, Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, Howard A. Rusk Rehabilitation Center, Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center, Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital, Cosmopolitan International Diabetes Center and Mason Institute of Ophthalmology. The majority of training takes place at University Hospital but there will be rotations at Columbia Regional Hospital and the Anesthesia Pain Clinic located at Ellis Fischel.

The School of Medicine directs medical student education and residency training programs in the health sciences complex. Its faculty of 65 basic scientists and more than 522 clinicians join 350 residents in 37 specialties to supervise and provide patient care as well as student teaching.

The J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library, located in the Health Sciences Center, provides a collection of more than 230,000 volumes and regularly receives more than 1,400 periodicals in addition to most of the indices and abstracts pertaining to medicine and related fields. The library serves the schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Health Related Professions and all other programs needing health science material. In addition to traditional library services, one may use computer databases such as MEDLINE to access information from the National Library of Medicine. A media-services section features audiovisual carrels and microcomputers. Material that is not available locally can be secured through interlibrary loan. In addition, the departmental library provides ready and often used access to most anesthesiology texts and journals and online access.

University Hospital and Clinics

University Hospital and Clinics is mid-Missouri's largest medical facility, employing more than 3,000 staff members. The 388-bed hospital attracts patients from all 114 Missouri counties

A vast array of services and technology is available at University Hospital and Clinics: ambulatory surgery; a full range of intensive care facilities, including the highest level burn and neonatal intensive care units; re-implantation and transplant services; clinics for birth defects, developmental assessment, cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis; an outpatient radiology department; and centers for arthritis, diabetes and Parkinson's disease.

University Hospital and Clinics has undergone continuous expansion including equipment acquisitions that enable the hospital to maintain its regional leadership in patient care. State-of-the-art technology is evident in computer-linked diagnostic equipment such as the computerized tomography (CT) scanner, endothelial specular microscope, magnetic resonance imager (MRI) and sophisticated instruments for laser therapy. Modern renal and cardiology facilities support up-to-date work in ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, cardiac balloon catheterization and implantable defibrillators.

The hospital's more than 522 skilled physicians are trained in 37 medical specialties and subspecialties and deliver care in 20 outpatient clinics in Columbia as well as numerous outreach Clinics within the State. The Same Day Surgery Center opened in 1985 to increase ambulatory care services.

University Hospital features the only Level I Trauma Center in the area, providing comprehensive trauma care 24 hours a day. The emergency center contains 11 treatment rooms, two fully equipped trauma rooms plus a cast room. We opened a new Critical Care Tower in the fall of 1999 which encompasses all the intensive care units, post anesthesia care unit and holding area for the operating rooms. In addition to ground ambulance services, the hospital operates an emergency helicopter service to transport critically ill and injured patients.

The hospital also is a regional poison control treatment center, providing computer-linked access to immediate information on poison treatment.