The MUSC Medical Center
The MUSC Medical Center ranks among the nation’s best. It is the only South Carolina hospital on US News and World Report's list of the 173 best US hospitals (July 17, 2000). The National Research Corporation named MUSC among 122 hospitals nationally that have been honored with its 2001 Consumer Choice Award. The 596-bed Medical Center is made up of four hospital facilities -- Medical University Hospital, MUSC Children’s Hospital, Storm Eye Institute and the Institute of Psychiatry. Child magazine recently ranked the MUSC Children’s Hospital ranks among the top 10 in the nation (February 2001).

In January 2001 a study by health care information company HCIA-Sachs named the MUSC Medical Center as one of the 100 top hospitals for the treatment of stroke victims. The study, “100 Top Hospitals: Stroke Benchmarks for Success,” represents HCIA-Sachs’ first comprehensive examination across all hospitals of the number, severity, lengths of stay, costs and outcomes of stroke patients treated annually in the U.S.

The MUSC Medical Center includes centers for specialized care, such as the Heart Center, Transplant Center, Digestive Disease Center and Hollings Cancer Center. MUSC is the designated Level I Trauma Center in Charleston; this is the highest designation of the American College of Surgeons. MUSC ranked 17th among the nation’s 270 transplant centers for volume of solid organ transplants performed in the year 2000.

The Medical Center has recently added a Philips 3 Tesla MRI scanner, the only 3T scanner in South Carolina, which will be used for both clinical and research protocols. For more information, please see the Center for Advanced Imaging Research (CAIR) at http://www.musc.edu/psychiatry/fnrd/function.htm.

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Ralph H. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
The Ralph H. Johnson DVAMC is a 117-bed primary, secondary and tertiary care medical center that provides acute medical, surgical, and psychiatric inpatient care, and both primary and specialized outpatient services in southeastern South Carolina.

The VA Medical Center also operates the outpatient clinics in Savannah, Georgia and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Currently, the VA Medical Center is operating 87 beds and a 28-bed nursing home. The VA Medical Center is closely affiliated with MUSC and supports 76 medical residents in medical and dental specialties, as well students from nursing, pharmacy, social work and allied health disciplines.