Where would Rhode Island be without Rhode Island Hospital?
(posted June 4, 2009)
As the leading academic medical center in Southern New England, Rhode Island Hospital has a unique three-part mission: to educate the next generation of health care providers; to create new knowledge through cutting-edge research; and to deliver the highest quality and safest care to our patients. Our complex mission, coupled with the size of our institution, sets us apart from other hospitals in Rhode Island and brings with it a unique set of responsibilities and challenges.
Rhode Island Hospital is the only Level 1 trauma center in the region. Without our services, the thousands of trauma victims we treat each year would be forced to go to hospitals in Boston or New Haven, creating critical delays in medical care and, consequently, poorer outcomes. Similarly, we have the only burn program in the region, providing victims of fire, chemical, electrical and other burns with the immediate medical treatment necessary to save their lives. Our adult and pediatric emergency departments are among the busiest in the country. The resources required to keep these key services operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week are significant and often not well reimbursed, but they are essential to our academic mission. The recent opening of Rhode Island Expresscare—which in its first week facilitated the transfer of 117 complex patients to our hospital—speaks further to the uniqueness of our mission.
Patients, however, come to Rhode Island Hospital for much more than emergency medical treatment. Each year, we provide complex care for tens of thousands of patients in the specialty areas of orthopedics, kidney disease, cardiovascular medicine, diagnostic imaging, neurosciences, and cancer care for both adults and children. Our mission as an academic medical center requires us to stay on the cutting edge of the latest technologies and treatments, and our patients come here expecting just that. Staying at the leading edge of technological advances in medicine requires significant resources and, for that reason, the mantra “no margin, no mission” is a reality for us.
While the majority of Rhode Island Hospital patients come from the state and surrounding communities, we also treat patients from all over the country and the world. Our patients include those who can afford to travel to receive the best medical care available, as well as those who are jobless, homeless, underinsured and uninsured. Rhode Island Hospital treats all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. This is both a moral and societal obligation, and one that we take seriously. These challenging economic times have brought even more strain on this part of our mission, but we remain unwavering in our commitment to serve our community, our state and our region.
Through its 20-year partnership with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital continues to attract top physicians from around the country who choose to make Rhode Island Hospital their academic home. These physicians not only provide superb patient care, but also help create an environment where intellectual curiosity and creating new knowledge are fostered, encouraged and promoted. This environment is the underpinning of any successful academic medical center and serves as a magnet for research dollars that would otherwise not come to the hospital or the state. Going forward, and in our continued partnership with The Warren Alpert Medical School, Rhode Island Hospital will further strengthen its research portfolio as it seeks to raise its national profile.
Recently, a story in the Providence Journal outlined Mayor David Cicilline’s goal of building a “knowledge-based economy” in Providence. We support that goal and recognize the central role Rhode Island Hospital – as both a life sciences research leader and a teaching hospital – will play in realizing that vision. If you look around the country at the prominent and thriving capital cities, they all have one thing in common: a major academic medical center serving as the linchpin of their life-sciences and knowledge-based economic strategy. Rhode Island Hospital has the potential to play a similar role here in Providence.
Finally, as one of the state’s largest private employers, Rhode Island Hospital is a major contributor to the economic engine for the region. We provide thousands of jobs that pay competitive rates and offer opportunities for career advancement. Through our partnership with local colleges, universities, middle and high schools, as well as our youth employment program, we provide a training ground for those in our community seeking a better way in life. In so doing, Rhode Island Hospital also ensures its future success by constantly reinvigorating its vibrant and committed workforce.
As the saying goes, “To whom much has been given, much is expected.” Rhode Island Hospital has been “given” a lot and gives a lot in return. And as the region’s leading academic medical center, we have an opportunity and an obligation to be the best – the best in patient care, the best in education and the best in research. Through our partnership with Brown’s medical school and the continued commitment of our talented nurses, doctors and employees, we will be just that—the best !!