UCLA Harbor-UCLA Medical Center: A Commitment to Excellence in Healthcare and Medical Education

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, located in Carson, California, has a rich history of serving the communities of South Los Angeles County for over 40 years. From its humble beginnings, treating its first trauma victim in 1946, to its current expansive 72-acre facility, the medical center has evolved into a vital healthcare institution deeply committed to providing equitable and compassionate care to all.

Mission and Values

At Los Angeles County-Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the core mission within Graduate Medical Education (GME) is to cultivate skilled physician leaders dedicated to delivering equitable and compassionate care. The institution is committed to fostering a supportive, inclusive, and safe academic learning environment. This commitment extends to cultivating educational excellence and innovation, empowering learners to advance medicine through research and scholarship.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Harbor-UCLA takes pride in fostering a workplace inclusive of every race, ethnicity, faith, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Recognizing the tangible impact that social determinants of health have on health outcomes, the institution is committed to actively combating structural racism and understanding socioeconomic privilege in our society. The Department of Emergency Medicine enthusiastically recruits residents, fellows, and faculty who can utilize their unique backgrounds and perspectives to enhance the care patients receive. A majority of the leadership comprises women and persons of color, reflecting a commitment to diversity at all levels. The department celebrates the diversity of all forms in its providers and strives to develop a medical workforce that reflects its patient population.

No One Turned Away: Serving a Diverse Community

As emergency providers in a safety-net county hospital, Harbor-UCLA is dedicated to caring for a diverse patient population. The hospital seeks to provide exemplary care to every individual regardless of background or ability to pay. This commitment is reflected in the approach to every patient encounter, providing culturally competent care and addressing the challenges presented by social determinants of health. The department fosters an environment of social activism, justice, and community engagement to support every aspect of its patients’ well-being.

The Harbor Family: A Supportive Community

The Harbor-UCLA Emergency Medicine Residency is a sizeable program with an intimate sense of community. The approachability of its leadership and the deep bonds between residents foster a sense of family within the department. "Buddy groups" cultivate relationships between current residents, alumni, and faculty, providing a strong support network. The on-site psychologist provides support through the inherent rigors of the specialty. Weekly resident/attending beach volleyball games, "board meetings" in the south bay swells, family play-dates, and nights out in LA are just a few of the ways the program fosters camaraderie and well-being.

Innovative Research and Programs

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is actively involved in various research initiatives and programs aimed at improving patient care and community health:

South LA CPR Initiative: This is a 3-year community-engaged research effort exploring CPR and AED knowledge in Compton and Gardena. The initiative utilizes local voices to help create life-saving interventions that improve bystander response and cardiac arrest survival.
Medication Assisted Therapy/Substance Use Disorder: Harbor-UCLA has a dedicated substance use disorder navigator to help individuals with substance use disorder. The center also partners with the Whole Person Care Substance Use Disorder program to ensure that patients receive the right care. They are working in partnership with the Bridge program to assess opiate use disorder and are also researching medication-assisted treatments.
Operationalization of Data Dashboards to Boost LA County Traffic Safety and Post-Crash Care: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the LA County EMS Agency, and The Lundquist Institute are collaborating to create an LA County regional data dashboard, with similarities to the NEMSIS national dashboard. This project utilizes stakeholder inputs, assistance from NEMSIS leadership, and LA County data to produce a dashboard mock-up and proposal for operationalization.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Novel EMS Mobile App to Improve Post-Crash Care: The UCLA Department of Emergency Medicine, in collaboration with Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the LA County EMS Agency, and The Lundquist Institute, is evaluating an LA County EMS protocol mobile application to assess its effect on paramedic performance and identify the application's usability characteristics.
Southwest Strategies to Innovate EmeRgENcy Care Clinical Trials Networks (SW SIREN): The Strategies to Innovate EmeRgENcy Care Clinical Trials Network (SIREN) is a clinical trials network funded by the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS). The goal of SIREN is to improve outcomes by identifying effective treatments.

Language Assistance

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center is committed to providing language assistance to patients. Qualified interpreter services, including sign language, are available at no cost, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during all hours of operations at all points of contact. The hospital does not encourage the use of family, friends, or minors as interpreters. Only the services of interpreters and qualified staff are used to provide language assistance. These may include bilingual providers, staff, and healthcare interpreters. In-person, telephone, video, and alternative modes of communication are available.

Access to Medications for Medi-Cal Members

Medi-Cal members can access covered drugs at Kaiser Permanente's outpatient pharmacies or any Medi-Cal Rx Pharmacy. Most Kaiser Permanente network pharmacies are Medi-Cal Rx pharmacies. If a member wants to find a Medi-Cal pharmacy outside of Kaiser Permanente, they can use the Medi-Cal Rx Pharmacy Locator online.

Practitioner Selection

Kaiser Permanente uses the same quality, member experience, or cost-related measures to select practitioners and facilities in Marketplace Silver-tier plans as it does for all other Kaiser Foundation Health Plan (KFHP) products and lines of business. The measures may include, but are not limited to, HEDIS/CAHPS performance, member/patient complaints, patient safety scores, hospital quality measures, and geographic need. Members enrolled in KFHP Marketplace plans have access to all professional, institutional, and ancillary health care providers who participate in KFHP plans’ contracted provider network, in accordance with the terms of members’ KFHP plan of coverage. Kaiser Permanente uses the same geographic distribution consideration to select hospitals in Marketplace plans as it does for all other Kaiser Foundation Health Plan (KFHP) products and lines of business.

Verification of Training

Verification of residency or fellowship training must be sent directly to the training program directly. The request must include your full name, dates of service. Note - please clarify with your future employer/requesting entity if they need to receive the information directly from the MSO as primary source verification.

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tags: #UCLA #Harbor-UCLA #Medical #Center #Carson