Established in 1973 as a branch campus of the main medical school in Memphis. The other campuses for the Universtiy of Tennessee College of Medicine include Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga and provide training for junior and senior medical students as well as residency and fellowship programs.
AREAS OF MEDICAL EDUCATION
Medical Students
Residents and Fellows
Continuing Medical Education for Practicing Physicians
Research
Community Service.
MEDICAL STUDENTS
Between 30 and 50 junior and senior medical students rotate at the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga at any given time.
Approximately 100 individual students rotate in Chattanooga each year.
Required clerkships (Family Medicine, Internal Mediine, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, and Surgery, Ambulatory Medicine, Medicine Specialties, Surgical Subspecialties, and Quality Improvement/Patient Safety) are available for UT junior students.
We plan to offer the remaining Neurology and Psychiatry Clerkships by May 2009.
Forty-two additional electives available for UT and other US medical students.
RESIDENTS AND FELLOWS
The UT College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to sponsor graduate medical education programs. Received maximum accreditation cycle (five years) without citations in June 2005.
Nine accredited residency programs are sponsored:
Emergency Medicine
Family Medicine
Internal Medicine
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Orthopaedic Surgery
Pediatrics
Plastic Surgery
Surgery
Transitional Year
The Emergency Medicine Residency in Chattanooga is the first EM residency within the University of Tennessee System and only the second such program in Tennessee.
Five fellowship programs are sponsored:
Geriatric Medicine
Surgical Critical Care
Vascular Surgery
Hospice/Palliative Care (awaiting accreditation January 2009)
Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery (not seeking accreditation)
More than 150 residents and fellows are enrolled as full time graduate students of the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga.
Future programs being considered for the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga include a Radiology Residency and fellowships in Pulmonary Critical Care, Gastroenterology, and Cardiology.
CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), including all campuses of the UT College of Medicine, is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to sponsor continuing medical education programs for practicing physicians.
UTHSC Received a four year accreditation cycle in July 2005.
LEADERSHIP
David C. Seaberg, MD, CPE, FACEP, is the Dean of the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga, and reports directly to Steve Schwab, MD, Executive Dean for the Universtiy of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Department Chairs of the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga report directly to the local Dean, Dr. Seaberg.
Robert C. Fore, EdD, FACME, CCMEP, is Associate Dean for the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga and serves as the Designated Insitutional Official (DIO) for our campus with the accrediting body. He serves as the statewide Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education for the UT Health Sciences Center.
ERLANGER
Erlanger Health System is the primary clinical training site for the medical education programs of the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga and has a major affiliation with the Universtiy of Tennessee that governs these cooperative efforts.
Erlanger has a long history of medical education since its founding in the late 1890's.
The American Medical Association first approved the Rotating Internship at Erlanger (then knows as the Baroness Erlanger Hospital) in 1915.
Erlanger has been continuously involved in medical education for students and residents since that time.
Erlanger received accreditation from the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Orgnizations (JCAHO) in 2008 with no citations.
Erlanger has five Tennessee-based medical campuses—Erlanger East, Erlanger North, Erlanger Bledsoe, and the downtown campus, Erlanger Baroness, which also includes the campus of T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital.
Erlanger is licensed for 818 acute-care beds and 50 long-term care beds serving patients from 50 counties within a 150-mile radius.
Erlanger has been designated as a Level 1 Trauma Center for both adults and children.
T. C. Thompson Children's Hospital is a Comprehensive Regional Pediatric Center (CRPC), the highest designation in the state for pediatrics, featuring a full complement of pediatric subspecialists, as well as a pediatric ER, ICU and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit, providing the highest level of care in the region to premature and sick infants.
The Erlanger Baroness Campus offers a Tertiary Level III Care Center for high-risk obstetrics as well as L/D services for low-risk patients. Erlanger East Campus offers single room maternity care for low-risk vaginal deliveries, surgical facilities for C-sections and a Level IIA special care nursery.
The region's first Wound Care Center, featuring Level 1 accredited hyperbaric treatment, is based at the Erlanger Baroness campus.
FACULTY
Approximately 400 physicians hold faculty appointments in the various departments of the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga and are integrally involved in education the physicians of the FUTURE.
RESEARCH
Under Dr. Seaberg's leadership, new research priorities have been established:
Three grants writers have joined the staff, one focusing on development initiatives
Children's health research (as part of the recenly NIH-funded National Children's Study federal grant)
Nanotechnology research initialves
Center for Independent Living Research (CILVR)
Cultural compentence research initiatives (e.g., recent grant award from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation "Back to the Black Bag" project to promote home health visits by our Internal Medicine residents and faculty)
SKILLS AND SIMULATION CENTER
A state-of-the-art Clinical Skills and Simulation Center opens in January 2009 which houses both a surgical skills lab and a new human patient simulation lab:
Medical Director: Benjamin Dart, MD
Skills Lab Director: Richard Cook, PA
Simulation Lab Director: Rodney Westmoreland
Provides medical students, residents, fellows, practicing physicians, and other allied health professionals with opportunities for multidisciplinary training.
Human patient simjulation mannequins provide patient care situations that are as close to human beings as possilbe. Medical emergencies and rarely encountered scenarios can be duplicated with computer-controlled mannequins so health professionals may learn needed skills in a mistake-proof environment.
OTHER RECENT NEWS
Following a national search, on January 1, 2009, Alan Kohrt, MD, FAAP, was appointed Chair of the Department of Pediatrics for the UT College of Medicine Chattanooga and Medical Director for T.C. Thompson Children's Hospital, a component of the Erlanger Heatlh System.
Students of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) have new access to an expanded array of healthcare services thanks to a new partnership among the university, Erlanger Health System (EHS), and the University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga (UTCOMC). Implementation of University Health Services will develop in phases with the first phase beginning August 1, 2008 at UTC's current site for student health services. Plans call for the service to relocate to the UT Family Practice Building at the intersection of Central and Third Streets. University Health Services will provide a variety of healthcare services for UTC students, faculty, staff, and student-athletes. Through the relationship with UTCOMC, services will include orthopaedic and sports medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYN, and subspecialty medical care, such as cardiology, pulmonology, geriatrics, and general surgery.
The Dean is working to raise funds and build a new UT Health Science Center building in the next few years.
