Emergency Medicine

The Department of Emergency Medicine serves as the major referral center of Central Virginia for patients with all types of injuries or illnesses, including traumatic and burn injuries; and toxicological and Hazmat exposures.

Critical care services are provided for patients of all ages including infants, children, adolescents, adults and elderly. Approximately 20 percent of the volume of patients seen are children. Seventeen percent of patients require hospital admission. This accounts for nearly 45 percent of the total number of hospital admissions annual. The department is the only Level I Trauma Center in the region and has been nationally recognized for its innovative management of patients with chest pain using a comprehensive high technology critical pathway approach that relies heavily on cardiac nuclear imaging.

The department provides medical direction to the Richmond Ambulance Authority, an all ALS EMS system widely acknowledged as among the best in the country. The department’s Division of Medical Toxicology consists of a full-time medical toxicologist who provides inpatient and outpatient consultations.

The entire ground floor of the main hospital is occupied by the Department of Emergency Medicine. The adult and pediatric emergency departments are adjacent to one another and consist of 29 and 13 beds respectively. An Adult Fast Track area of 15 beds operates 16 hours per day and is devoted to the care of adults with minor illnesses or injuries. The Virginia Poison Center is located within the Emergency Medicine complex.

Other services offered include the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center's LifeEvac Air Transport Service for all patients including infants, children, adolescents, adults and the elderly to referring/transferring hospitals within and outside of the state of Virginia. The Pediatric Transport Service provides ground transport for pediatric patients requiring critical or specialty care. The primary catchments area for this service is within a 250-mile radius of the medical center.

As part of the VCU Occupational Alliance, the Department of Emergency Medicine provides occupational medicine services to many area companies. The services range from random drug screens to occupational injuries.

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