George Washington University Hospital

Founded in 1824 as a medical department in Columbian College (now called the George Washington University), the GW Medical School was the 11th medical school in the United States and the first in the nation's capital. • 1824 The first GW medical department was located in downtown Washington, D.C., on 10th and E Streets near Ford's Theatre. In the 1840s, it moved into a larger building at Judiciary Square as an infirmary, which subsequently became the first general hospital in the nation's capital. • 1997 Universal Health Services buys an 80% stake in the hospital and takes over day-to-day operations from the university. • 2002 GW Hospital moves across the street to 900 23rd Street, NW. The 371-bed facility is the first new hospital in D.C. in over 20 years. The approval for this to be added required overturning an existing D.C law which had been in place since the 1980's that prohibited the construction of any new helipads within the District. The newly revised law allows for Level I Trauma Centers to construct and operate these facilities. The helipad is used by private companies such as PHI and STAT medevac for transfers of critically ill patients from outside hospitals in need of specialty trauma, cardiac, or neurological care. ==Services==

Emergency medicine The Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine was established at George Washington University in 1991. The department cares for nearly 85,000 patients each year, including serious injuries, as a level 1 trauma center. GWUH's emergency department consists of: • 52 emergency department beds • 2 trauma bays • 6 critical care stabilization bays • 5 negative-pressure isolation rooms • 12 fast-track treatment rooms Center for trauma and critical care The George Washington University Hospital is an American College of Surgeons (ACS) verified level 1 trauma center GWUH receives the most critically-injured trauma patients from Washington, D.C., and the Northern Virginia area, as well as hospital transfers from Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. In 2018, the hospital was approved to construct a helipad after a multi-year battle to change a DC law prohibiting the construction of new helipads. The addition of this ability to receive helicopters greatly shortens the time needed to transfer critically ill patients from another hospital, or directly from an emergency scene, to receive the highest level of care for critically ill patients. Cardiovascular center GWUH is home to a comprehensive program for advanced treatment of heart disease and vascular disorders, non-invasive diagnostics, 24-hour interventional cardiologist and catheterization lab, cardiac catheterization, heart rhythm disorders and treatments and cardiovascular surgery. Comprehensive stroke center GWUH is home to a comprehensive stroke center offering 24-hour acute stroke services treating ischemic strokes, hemorrhagic strokes, and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Stroke care is provided via a team-based approach with teams composed of vascular neurologists, neurointerventionalists, neurosurgeons, intensivists, neuroradiologists, physiatrists, and other specialists as determined by patient requirements. GW hospital houses an acute rehabilitation unit, thus allowing stroke victims to receive all of their care in one location. And, in 2024, Newsweek ranked this program first in the South for stroke care, marking its third consecutive year in the position. ==References==