Emergency Services

We provide the highest level of emergency care for adult and pediatric trauma, burns and other serious emergencies. Our board-certified emergency medicine physicians specialize in trauma care and work together with our trauma surgeons to handle any medical emergency.

Because we are a Level I Trauma Center, a nationally accredited chest pain center and an Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center, patients receive the highest level of care in our emergency department. This includes critically ill patients who may be experiencing:

• Heart attack
• Stroke
• Poisoning
• Frostbite
• Psychiatric and psychological disorders

Our highly trained trauma surgeons are on site 24/7. These critical care specialists are board-certified intensivists and provide the most advanced and comprehensive care to critically injured patients. As the region’s most experienced nationally verified Level I Trauma Center, we specialize in high-acuity patients with complex, multisystem injuries including:

• Burns – chemical, electrical, flame and scald
• Car accidents
• Falls
• Traumatic brain injury
• Gunshot or stab wounds
• Concussion

Our team in emergency general surgery, also called acute care surgery, serves patients and collaborating care teams assessing an emergency diagnosis. The team cares for patients upon arrival, through surgery and hospitalization, to postoperative follow-up care appointments. As a high-volume center, our 9 double-board-certified physicians treat more than 2,400 emergency general surgeries each year at our Main Campus in Kansas City, Kansas. Urgent surgical consultation may include the following conditions:

• Appendicitis 
• Cholecystitis (gallbladder problems) 
• Skin infections 
• Small bowel obstruction 
• Perforated peptic ulcer 
• Gastrointestinal bleeding 
• Ischemic bowel 
• Severe pancreatitis 
• Hernias (abdominal and groin)
• And more

The health system is one of the nation’s first pilot centers to go through the American College of Surgeons Emergency General Surgery Verification Program.

The safety of patients, guests and staff is our priority. We screen for health symptoms upon entry and require everyone to pass through a metal detector. Please limit guests to 1-2 per patient. Guests with fever or cold- or flu-like symptoms or who are COVID-19 positive may not accompany a patient into our facilities. Patients may not be seen in the order of arrival. We address the most urgent medical needs first. We often experience high volumes that may entail longer wait times. Learn more about the health system visitor policies.

We assess each patient's vital signs and condition within the first 5 minutes of arrival at the ED. Anytime you visit the ED, your wait to receive care depends on a number of factors.

• Your diagnosis and condition seriousness
• Patient volume
• Condition of other patients

To help reduce waiting time and speed up the process for noncritical events, we established a rapid evaluation, assessment and treatment area, or REACT.

Experience counts when minutes matter. Our emergency and trauma teams include regional EMS professionals who are an essential part of our emergency and trauma teams. Emergency responders begin care and activate the appropriate rapid response team while they're on the way to our hospital. Doctors and nurses at The University of Kansas Health System are ready 24/7 to provide a full spectrum of care for critical patients. 

Our team of trauma surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, neurosurgeons, orthopedists, plastic surgeons, radiologists, nurses and respiratory therapists can mobilize on a moment’s notice. We’re the region’s most experienced nationally verified Level I Trauma Center, designated by the American College of Surgeons. Only select trauma programs in the United States have earned the ACS Level I rating, the highest ranking a program can achieve. We received our Level I verification in September 2000.

If you have any doubts about your or a loved one's injury or condition, don't hesitate. Call 911 immediately.

When you need to see a doctor right away but don't require a trip to the emergency department, our urgent care offices offer convenient hours and locations. Nonemergency conditions may include:

• Respiratory difficulties associated with asthma and allergies
• Sore throats
• Coughs
• Fever
• Rashes
• Minor injuries
• Headaches
• Vomiting
• Flu-like symptoms

Our Poison Center provides information on all types of poison, including poisonous chemicals, plants and snakes. We're available 24/7 from anywhere in the state of Kansas and throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area. Call our hotline at 800-222-1222.