he Department of Emergency Services provides comprehensive,
individualized emergency and trauma care by functioning in unison with
the medical staff and all disciplines of San Francisco General Hospital
and Trauma Center (SFGH). The goal is to serve as patient advocates
and to uphold the Patient’s Bill of Rights, with appreciation and
respect for individual ethnic and cultural uniqueness. This is
achieved by providing comprehensive individualized nursing and medical
care based on established standards and communicating and collaborating
with all health care providers to ensure the delivery of well-organized,
quality emergency services.
The Emergency Department at SFGH is the only Comprehensive Emergency Department for the City and County of San Francisco. The Emergency Department census is approximately 60,000 visits per year, including nearly 10,000 pediatric visits. SFGH receives approximately 30% of all ambulance transfers in San Francisco. The permanent Emergency Department staff is comprised of 28 attending physicians, 106 registered nurses, 18 nurse practitioners, and 31 support staff.
The SFGH Emergency Department is a training site for the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), Stanford University, and several other public and private hospital training programs in the Bay Area. Over 250 students, interns, and residents spend at least one month of their year based in the SFGH Emergency Department.
In addition, the Emergency Department at SFGH is home to the only Level 1 Trauma Center between Palo Alto and Sacramento, CA. The Level 1 Trauma Center is a resource to the entire Bay Area as a natural disaster or large scale injury incident can occur at any time.
As a designated Level 1 Trauma Center, SFGH maintains the highest level of trauma care expertise among all members of its trauma team. There is an overall trend toward better outcomes for patients who are treated at a Level 1 Trauma Center due to several requirements they must meet, and due to the higher volume of trauma patients compared to tertiary trauma centers. A Level 1 Trauma Center is required to have a certain number of surgeons and anesthesiologists on duty 24 hours a day at the hospital. Key elements include
- 24-hour in-house coverage by general surgeons
- Prompt availability of specialties such as orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine, oral and maxillofacial surgery, and critical care
- Education, injury prevention, and outreach programs
