Welcome to the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Iowa. The department is committed to making our department a great place for our patients and staff by focusing on excellence in education, research, and patient-focused emergency care.

Emergency Medical Services at UI Hospitals and Clinics encompass many programs and services including the Emergency Treatment Center, AirCare, the Emergency Medical Services Learning Resources Center, the Emergency Medicine Research Laboratories, and Iowa’s only physician and PA Emergency Medicine Residency Training Programs.

It is the mission of all these programs to improve emergency care in Iowa through education, research, and extraordinary patient care.

The newly renovated Emergency Treatment Center that opened in April 2008, provides care to Iowa’s most critically ill children and adults. The ETC is the entry point for the region’s only Level I Trauma Center and Iowa’s most comprehensive hospital. We receive approximately 2,500 helicopter and 10,000 ground ambulance transports each year and care for patients from every county in the state.

AirCare, established in 1979, was Iowa’s first medical helicopter service and the 12th helicopter transport program in the United States. It has flown more than 20,000 missions and two million miles since its inception.

To meet the demand for more residency-trained emergency medicine physicians and physician assistants, we created Iowa’s only Emergency Medicine Residency Training Program.

The Emergency Medical Services Learning Resources Center, (EMSLRC) is Iowa’s largest EMS education training program. Staff members teach more than 6,000 students each year and offer courses from CPR and Paramedic Specialist to Advanced Trauma Life Support for practicing physicians.

It’s an exciting time for Emergency Medicine at the University of Iowa. As the Department grows, we continue to look for opportunities to improve Emergency Medicine through research, patient care and education. To learn more, please further explore our website.

Eric W. Dickson, MD, FAAEM
Head, Department of Emergency Medicine