The University of North Carolina Hospitals serves as the state's primary referral hospital, providing specialized care to patients from all 100 counties in North Carolina, from neighboring states, and, for some of its most specialized services, from across the country and around the world. UNC Hospitals is also the community hospital for residents of Chapel Hill, Orange County, and the surrounding area. UNC Hospitals houses a Level I Trauma Center, which is one of only five in North Carolina. The Trauma Center is augmented by Carolina Air Care, an air medical service that provides emergency transportation for accident victims and critically ill patients from across the state. Since 1952, when UNC Hospitals opened its doors as North Carolina Memorial Hospital, it has remained on the forefront of medical technology. A pioneer in many medical developments, the Hospital opened the nation's first intensive care unit in 1953, setting new standards for the care of critically ill patients and symbolizing the Hospital's commitment to improve the delivery of quality health care. That innovative spirit has been a stepping stone toward the delivery of total patient care in the 1990s. The hospitals currently comprising the UNC medical complex include the North Carolina Memorial Hospital, the North Carolina Children's Hospital, the North Carolina Women's Hospital, the North Carolina Neuropsychiatric Hospital, and the North Carolina Clinical Cancer Center. The Ambulatory Care Center has made outpatient care even more accessible to North Carolinians. The Neuropsychiatric Hospital and a greatly enlarged, state-of-the-art Emergency Room opened in 1996; the Children's Hospital and the Women's Hospital opened in 2002. Last year UNC Hospitals, with 665 licensed beds, admitted approximately 23,000 patients and recorded almost 490,000 outpatient visits. Almost all of the 650 attending physicians on staff are members of the full-time faculty of the UNC School of Medicine, a premier institution for the education of new physicians.

The School of Medicine was established in 1879 as the only medical school in North Carolina. Initially a four-year doctoral program, the clinical years were abandoned in 1910 and a two-year school continued until 1952, when, with construction of North Carolina Memorial Hospital, a four-year curriculum was resumed. Today, the medical school boasts a $31 million endowment and ranks 15th among medical schools on the prestigious National Institutes of Health funding list. NIH funding accounts for approximately 30% of the School's budget. As with UNC Hospitals, rapid growth has characterized the medical school. The Thurston-Bowles Research Building opened in the fall of 1994 and includes the Multipurpose Arthritis Center. The Environmental Research Facility, a joint project with the Environmental Protection Agency, opened in the spring of 1995. The medical student body has grown to 640. Forty percent of the third-year students spend a two-week clerkship on Orthopaedics. One-month orthopaedic electives available during the fourth year include a Precepteeship, Acting Internships at UNC Hospitals and WakeMed, Sports Medicine, Pediatric Orthopaedics, and Research.

For questions or comments, please contact msmiller@med.unc.edu March 2004