Emergency Medicine - Stanford Hospital & Clinics - Stanford University Medical Center

Emergency Medicine

Location:	Stanford Hospital 300 Pasteur Drive Stanford, CA View a map

Mailing Address:	300 Pasteur Drive Stanford, CA 94305

Contact Phone:	(650) 723-5111

Days and Hours:	7 days a week 24 hours a day

The Stanford Division of Emergency Medicine includes a dedicated team of physicians, nurses, and other caregivers who provide superior knowledge and compassion to every patient served. The Emergency Department (ED) delivers comprehensive emergency care to patients of all ages, including referral to surgery for acute illnesses and injuries, when indicated. The Stanford ED treats about 38,000 patients annually.

The ED has an emergency medicine faculty physician present 24 hours a day and is an EMS-designated Level 1 Trauma Center, serving as a regional trauma center for northern and mid-California, as well as adjacent states.

Stanford's Life Flight medical transport program is available for critically ill or injured patients. Emergency critical care transportation by ground vehicle, airplane, or helicopter is available 24 hours a day. Life Flight utilizes both nurse-led and physician-led transport teams, depending on the seriousness of the patient's condition.

At Stanford, the Prevent Mode system often allows our emergency room to stay open at times of heavy patient volume rather than diverting ambulances to nearby community hospitals. The system entails quick, efficient coordination with the hospital's departmental admitting teams so that emergency patients who have been designated for admission as inpatients can be quickly moved from the ED to their designated specialty treatment areas. This expedites their care and frees ED beds for incoming patients.

While patients with minor illnesses or injuries receive care in the Fast Track section of the department, our Acute Care Center within the ED expedites the treatment of very ill patients.

Clinicians in our emergency cardiovascular services work closely with our cardiology team to expedite the care of patients with heart attacks and other life-threatening conditions. Recently the University Health Consortium, an organization that benchmarks care quality at participating academic medical centers, rated Stanford first in the nation in the speed with which incoming critical heart patients received balloon angioplasty, a lifesaving procedure that opens blocked coronary arteries. Stanford ED physicians also coordinate with the Stanford Stroke Center for the immediate assessment and treatment of possible stroke victims. In addition, we have developed advanced protocols for treating patients with acute exacerbations of asthma.

Doctors at Stanford have, moreover, established a reputation for excellence in the field of wilderness medicine, which may include problems such as traumatic injuries due to falls; drowning; hypothermia; bites from poisonous snakes, spiders, and insects; and so forth.