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new facilities and technology
UCSF Medical Center Opens at Mission Bay
John MacKenzie, MD
This year’s signal achievement was our February 1 move
into the long-awaited UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay.
This is an enormous undertaking for the Medical Center
and Radiology Department: A $1.5 billion, 878,000 square
foot campus, which serves three distinct groups of patients
and is home to the UCSF Bakar Cancer Hospital, the UCSF
Betty Irene Moore Women’s Hospital, and UCSF Benioff
Children’s Hospital.
Arriving at opening day was a 10-year undertaking that
involved a tremendous amount of planning and the invaluable
support of our community and donors. All of us can
proudly say that we are positioned at Mission Bay to serve
adults, children and their families better than ever.
The complex has San Francisco’s only emergency
room for children, and a rooftop helipad to bring critically
ill patients from regional hospitals. Robots help carry supplies,
food and medicine throughout the hospital. Our radiology
department is particularly notable for the brand-new,
state-of-the-art equipment (four MRI machines, three CT,
SPECT-CT and PET-CT machines) and team approach to
imaging care. We also can refer patients to the China Basin
campus to use its new PET/MRI facilities. The pediatric
neuroradiology, abdominal imaging, nuclear medicine and
ultrasound sections all share a common reading room,
which has enabled helpful consultations and learning for
our residents and fellows.
An Environment Especially Made for Children
At UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, integrated teams of
experts in a spectrum of pediatric disorders diagnose and
treat patients. Sharing space with the UCSF Betty Irene
Moore Women’s Hospital also allows us to help with the
imaging care of new mothers and babies during the transition
from fetal to neonatal life.
The imaging facilities of the new UCSF Benioff Children’s
Hospital are especially child-friendly. We have developed
an incredible team of child life specialists who help
families and children get through imaging examinations. Our
imaging suites are themed with activities and scenes unique
to the Bay Area: Instead of sliding into a cramped scanner,
patients can imagine a ride in a cable car, a trip on a boat
or a camping trip in Muir Woods. This innovative approach
helps patients hold still (better images!), reduces the need
for anesthesia, and is vital to an environment designed to
reduce anxiety and reinforce positive feelings about the
health care experience.
We are proud to have accomplished so much this year,
and thrilled to be serving patients and their families with
compassionate imaging teams in a state-of-the art facility
designed to provide the best in medical care.
John MacKenzie, MD, is an associate professor in residence,
chief of Radiology at Mission Bay Medical Center,
and section chief of Pediatric Radiology at UCSF.
UCSF DOCUMENTS & MEDIA - MARCO SANCHEZ
A patient-friendly scan suite. While wearing video goggles, patients may view videos from our library or DVDs brought from home.
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