The EGS service will educate physician extenders, medical students, residents, and clinical fellows to increase their understanding of acute general surgical problems. Medical students will develop their initial understanding of the acute abdomen. Surgical residents can advance their understanding of the pathophysiology of acute surgical disease, resuscitation of the surgical patient, and hone their surgical skills. Clinical fellows can focus surgical infections, complications of acute surgical disease, and complex surgical management.
The EGS service managed with an evidence based medicine approach should be a rich background to study the management of acute surgical disease. From the Emergency Department to the Operating Room to the ICU to the Floor, the care of the patient must be under study. This allows us to address our primary mission of improving patient care, to increase our understanding of surgical disease as well as decreasing morbidity, mortality, length of stay, and cost of care.
Mission
The primary mission of the EGS service is to provide timely surgical assessment and operative management of the patient with an acute general surgical problem. The development of an EGS Service at Vanderbilt University Medical Center concentrates the care of the patient onto one service. This allows for the development of evidence-base medicine / management guidelines to care for patients. As such, variability in care is diminished, cost of care is diminished, and one hopes morbidity would diminish as well. Plans are underway to develop a center of excellence in complicated abdominal wall or intra-abdominal complications.
Emergency General Surgery Clinic – (615) 322-5847, The Vanderbilt Clinic, Suite 3501A, 1301 Medical Center Drive, Nashville, TN 37232
Michael C. Smith, MD
EGS Director