Newsbreak
Women’s specialty hospital to build in excellence in research, care
By Shipra Shukla
Building on UCSF’s reputation for innovation in women’s health care, the new women’s specialty hospital at Mission Bay will set a new standard for the care of women throughout their reproductive life span.
“The UCSF Women’s Specialty Hospital will provide outstanding care for women at every stage of life – from puberty to menopause and beyond,” says Nancy Milliken, vice dean of the UCSF School of Medicine and director of the UCSF Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. “Women will experience innovative, multidisciplinary care in a facility designed to meet their unique needs.”
Nancy Milliken
Many women’s health specialties will be housed in the same building, rather than dispersed among several locations, providing patients with more convenient access to multidisciplinary teams offering leading-edge, patient-centered treatments for conditions including complex obstetrical disorders, fibroids and incontinence, as well as breast and gynecologic cancers.
A woman referred with a recently diagnosed fetal abnormality, for example, will be able to see a perinatologist, geneticist, ultrasound specialist and fetal surgeon and receive support services, all in one location. Instead of patients needing to travel between multiple providers, at UCSF Women’s Specialty Hospital, providers will work collaboratively in one location for the benefit of each patient and her family. At the time of delivery, women will have access to a comprehensive health care team, including experts in neonatology, anesthesiology and other specialties, to meet their every need.
Teenage women will benefit from the expertise of specialists in gynecology, reproductive health and adolescent medicine. An adolescent with a pelvic mass, for instance, will be able to come into the new women’s specialty hospital, where gynecologic surgeons will pay special attention to preserving her future fertility while consulting with experts in the children’s hospital, who will understand her needs from a developmental point of view.
“The real benefit,” says Milliken, “is the further integration of world-class services and experts that can address the individual and oftentimes complex needs of each patient at different stages of life.”
Foundation of Excellence
The new women’s hospital, which will feature a 36-bed birth center, will be home to national experts in UCSF’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, which is ranked first in the nation in funding from the National Institutes of Health.
“Over the past 30 years, our faculty has participated in almost every important advance in reproductive health, including new contraceptives, in vitro fertilization, the advent of birth centers, fetal surgery, and the pioneering of less invasive treatments for fibroids and incontinence,” says Linda Giudice, chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. “Sophisticated operating suites and imaging technologies will facilitate the development of future breakthroughs at the new women’s specialty hospital.”
The new hospital will advance the groundbreaking research and innovation at the UCSF Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center led by Laura Esserman, a UCSF professor of surgery and radiology. The Breast Care Center’s multidisciplinary team has conducted many exciting trials, resulting in new, targeted drug therapies, single-dose radiation options and most recently the launch of a nationwide website, BreastCancerTrials.org, the first site designed exclusively to help breast cancer patients find trials for which they may be eligible.
“We are now poised at a new threshold for improvements in outcomes of breast and other cancers because of new diagnostics, new therapies, powerful information systems and our commitment to honor women’s choices that impact their quality of life,” says Esserman. “Emerging knowledge will enable us to customize care to individual biology, preference and clinical performance in the new hospitals at Mission Bay.”
Responsive and Responsible
UCSF is playing a leadership role in defining what it means to be a green hospital, a priority for women’s health in light of the delicate and important balance between reproductive health and the environment.
“We are witnessing, firsthand, erosion in a number of the measures of reproductive health that our grandparents enjoyed,” says Giudice. “More women, particularly those under the age of 25, are reporting difficulty conceiving and maintaining their pregnancies.”
The statistics are alarming. Compared with 30 years ago, 26 percent more women get breast cancer, 46 percent more men get testicular cancer and 76 percent more men get prostate cancer. Preterm births are on the rise: 30 percent more babies are born prematurely and, on average, babies are born one week earlier now than they were 15 years ago. Additionally, sperm counts have declined by 50 percent in the last 50 years in several industrialized regions.
“Substantial clues suggest something in our environment is involved,” Giudice says.
Since World War II, chemical production in the United States has increased more than twentyfold. The number of chemicals registered for commercial use has grown by more than 30 percent since 1979. Manufactured and mined chemicals are now everywhere in our environment – in the air, water, food, drinks, cosmetics, personal care products and everyday household items. National studies show that nearly everyone has measurable amounts of chemicals in their bodies – chemicals that can disrupt normal biological systems.
“At UCSF, we are pioneering the research on reproductive health and the environment,” says Giudice. “With the new hospitals, we can begin to pioneer the solutions as well. UCSF’s Mission Bay hospitals are designed to be responsive and responsible to our community and to our future. Every attempt is being made to build a green hospital, reflecting our commitment to reduce our carbon footprint and to use products that have a minimal negative impact on human health.”
A Healing Environment
The warm, women-centered, healing environment of the UCSF Women’s Specialty Hospital at Mission Bay will be a critical component of the overall care and experience.
“In designing the new hospital, we have taken the notion of a healing environment to heart,” says Elena Gates, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences. “Our goal is to bring this healing environment to life from every patient vantage point.”
The design features expansive two-story atriums, intimate meditation spaces, patient rooms that maximize the use of natural light, soft color schemes, exhibit space for artwork, and views of a garden or parklike setting from every bedside. “This all reflects our understanding of the importance of warmth and beauty in a healing environment,” says Gates.
This healing environment will extend beyond the individual patient herself and provide versatile spaces to meet the diverse needs of families and caregivers. Additionally, every patient room is designed to enable another person to comfortably spend the day or night because companionship and support are valuable components of the healing process.
“With the women’s specialty hospital at Mission Bay, we have the unique opportunity to incorporate our expertise, our experience, our evidence-based innovation and our passion for improving women’s health into a brand-new facility designed to provide women with a lifetime of reproductive health care,” says Milliken. “It’s ambitious, exciting and a logical next step.”