When seconds matter, UMMC is the place to be

When the media report news of an accident involving traumatic injuries, one of the following phrases is sure to follow: “transported to UMC,” “airlifted to UMC,” or “listed in serious condition at UMC.”

Emergency responders and community hospitals know the state’s only level one trauma center is at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, so when a life hangs in the balance, the patient comes here. Time is critical.

“Ten to 15 minutes are the difference between life and death,” said Dr. John Porter, chief of the Division of Trauma and Critical Care Surgery.

More than 4,700 patients received trauma care at the Medical Center in 2009,

New VC not the retiring type

The Medical Center today doesn’t resemble the sleepy place Dr. Jimmy Keeton first saw as a medical student in 1961.

Now he’s the helmsman of the same but very different Medical Center, one with a $1.2 billion budget that makes up 10 percent of the economy of Jackson and two percent of the state’s economy.

He was appointed vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the school of medicine on Feb. 9, just one week before he turns 70, after a six-month search.

It was not a job he sought, but it’s one that fits him like an old shoe.

ACT Center helps tobacco users say no to nicotine – for good

A tobacco-treatment center that originated with a dentist and a psychologist encouraging smokers to kick the habit has just passed its 10-year milestone while at the same time expanding its services to more locations than ever before.

Located in the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center, the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s ACT Center opened in 1999 with a mission to help Mississippians quit using tobacco — and to stay tobacco-free —through education, training and research.

Dr. Karen Crews, director of the center, spearheaded the project while she was on faculty in the School of Dentistry. As a young practitioner working at a

Electronic monitoring debuts 

At 2 a.m., an intensive care unit nurse notices a change in a patient’s condition that could warrant intervention, but she wants another opinion.

A dedicated phone line and an in-room emergency notification button connect her to off-campus critical care physicians and nurses who have been monitoring the patient around the clock. Together they determine the next course of action, whether it’s administering medication or contacting the primary physician.

Beginning Dec. 15, that hypothetical scenario will be reality with the launch of University of Mississippi Health Care’s Intensiview, a Philips VISICU eICU program. The system combines advanced software, two-way audio and video