The School of Medicine is doubling the size of its clinical presence at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital to provide St. Louis County residents greater access to more physicians and additional treatments and therapies.
Among the clinical offerings available now, or soon, are the full range of adult and pediatric medical specialists, selected surgery services and a major expansion of the Siteman Cancer Center. Most are expected to be in place by August 2008. The medical school’s $7.5 million expansion project brings the square footage of Washington University physician offices on the campus from less than 50,000 to about 100,000 square feet. Click here for a map of the Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital campus.
“Patients and their families prefer to receive their medical care, especially ambulatory care, close to home. Expanding our clinical presence on the Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital campus allows us to offer geographically convenient, patient-focused services to those living in west St. Louis County,” said James Crane, M.D., associate vice chancellor for clinical affairs and CEO of Washington University Physicians. “More than 35 medical and surgical subspecialties will be available on the Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital campus.”
Pediatric subspecialists — including allergy and pulmonary, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology and diabetes, general surgery, gastroenterology and nutrition, hematology and oncology, neurology, plastic and reconstructive surgery, psychiatry, renal and urology — have established outpatient offices on the campus. Many of the pediatric services are located in Professional Office Building 3 in space that became available when the University’s orthopedic and sports medicine surgeons recently relocated to the new Washington University Orthopedics and Barnes-Jewish Hospital Outpatient Orthopedic Center on Interstate 64/40 in Chesterfield, Mo. These pediatric services bring the partnership between WUSTL and St. Louis Children’s Hospital to the Barnes-Jewish West County campus for the first time.
The expanded Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital will include a new linear accelerator, allowing WUSTL radiation oncologists to treat cancer patients with external radiation therapy for the first time on the campus. Radiation oncologists also will have access to a newly installed CT scanner to use in treatment planning. The linear accelerator and CT scanner are owned and operated by the hospital.
WUSTL medical oncologists and radiation oncologists will occupy Professional Office Building 2, where the expanded cancer center will be located, and a greater range of surgical specialists will be nearby in Professional Office Building 1. Currently, University medical oncologists see patients in a suite of offices at 969 Mason Road. They will move to the new Siteman Cancer Center facility when the renovations are complete. Outpatient space for cancer patients will double to 14 exam rooms and 28 chemotherapy infusion bays.
As a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, Siteman Cancer Center’s locations at both Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital and Barnes-Jewish Hospital at the medical center can provide comprehensive cancer care and access to the latest clinical trials, new treatment options and new technology in advance of most community hospitals.
The Siteman Cancer Center facility at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital also will offer critical support services for cancer patients, including a cancer information center, social services and patient support groups. When a patient needs a combination of care from Siteman’s main location at the medical center campus and from the new center in West County, the services will be carefully coordinated so the patient experience is seamless and the largest-possible share of the care is provided close to the patient’s home.
A full range of surgical services also is available on the West County campus, including lung and thoracic, urologic, vascular, plastic and reconstructive, colon-rectal, bariatric and neurosurgical specialties. Plastic and bariatric surgery will be housed in a new Washington University Aesthetic Surgery Center in Professional Office Building 1, which is scheduled to open in April.
The Department of Medicine will expand its presence and open a multispecialty medical practice at Barnes-Jewish West County. Dermatology and dermatologic surgery, rheumatology, gastroenterology, asthma, allergy, bone metabolism, diabetes, infectious diseases and kidney specialists all will be available, the majority from a new center in Professional Office Building 2.
In addition, the University Eye Center is doubling the size of its offices and moving from Building 1 to Building 2. New neurology services on campus include sleep specialists and experts in epilepsy, stroke and neuromuscular disorders.
Full radiology services, including X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, CT scans, PET scans, mammography, bone density and nuclear medicine, are already available at Barnes-Jewish West County. To increase the breadth and depth of coverage, enhanced services will be added this year, including cardiac CT, ultrasound-guided biopsy, musculoskeletal ultrasound, virtual colonoscopy, high-speed CT scans and pediatric radiology. All subspecialty imaging services available at the Washington University Medical Center will available at Barnes-Jewish West County.
On July 1, Washington University faculty physicians assumed responsibility for providing medical care in the Emergency Department at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital. The addition of Washington University emergency medicine physicians continues the enhancement of clinical services at Barnes-Jewish West County and puts the hospital in a unique position to offer experienced, skilled emergency care with shorter wait times.
Patient care provided by heart specialists at the Washington University Heart Care Institute in Building 3 also is expanding to include a greater range of hospital-based care. Washington University cardiologists now are available for inpatient consults and offer 24-hour emergency room coverage. For the first time, Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital is staffed for an inpatient cardiology telemetry unit with a focus on low- to moderate-risk patients in a new Cardiac Monitored Care Unit.
“The growth of clinical services at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital gives patients greater access to Washington University physicians and to the services of a University-linked hospitals like Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Expanding our partnership with Barnes-Jewish and Children’s to encompass the West County location enables us to better fulfill our mission of excellence in patient care, teaching and research,” said Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. “Our patients now have more choices in where they can seek care from a Washington University physician.”
“Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital is an outstanding community hospital, and we’re excited to expand clinical services unique to a top 10 hospital like Barnes-Jewish and our nationally renowned Washington University physician colleagues to the West County location,” said Andy Ziskind, M.D., president of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital.
For a number of years, Washington University physicians have had a clinical presence on the campus in conjunction with private physicians. The expansion of services will maintain that model.
University-employed physicians and physicians in private practice will have admitting privileges at the hospital and will have outpatient offices on campus or immediately adjacent to the campus at 969 Mason Road.