The department's overall direction is assigned to the Director. The Director reports to the Dean of the School of Medicine. The Emergency Medicine nurses are directed by the administrative nurse manager who reports to the Director of the department. The Department of Emergency Medicine is divided into six divisions, each directed by one of the senior faculty members of the department. Click here
for more information on the Divisions. The Director of the Department is Dr. David Guss, Professor of Clinical Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Guss has been a full-time member of the faculty since 1979 and was one of its founding faculty. All faculty are appointed in the Department of Medicine and are eligible for appointment in any academic series. Their academic evaluations are coordinated by the Director of the Department. There are currently 26 full-time and 13 part-time faculty members. In 1978, the California State Department of Health Services designated UC San Diego Medical Center as a Comprehensive Emergency Medical Service Center, meaning that the facility is capable of providing a scope of services in which all medical situations can be managed on a definitive and continuous basis. UCSD Medical Center is the only facility so designated in San Diego and Imperial Counties, and is one of only four in California. The UCSD Emergency Department is the first ED in a teaching facility with a completely electronic patient record. All patient care data is entered into one of many terminals throughout the department. This system also interfaces with an electronic monitoring system and medical informatics is one of many expanding areas of research in the residency program. The Medical Center offers a full range of primary, secondary, and tertiary care services. It serves as the Level I Trauma Center for both San Diego and Imperial Counties, and offers numerous highly specialized services including the Regional Burn Center, the Infant Special Care Center, the Regional Transplant Center, the Hyperbaric Medicine Center, the Comprehensive Central Nervous System Injury Center, and the General Clinical Research Center. During 1981, UCSD Medical Center (formerly University Hospital) was first selected by Business Week magazine as one of the 24 best hospitals in the United States. Since then it has consistently ranked among the best hospitals in the nation by numerous national surveys.
