More About Us

 

A Level I Trauma Center

One out of three people will suffer a traumatic injury during his or her lifetime. SFGH has the only Trauma Center (Level 1) available for the over 1.5 million people living and working in San Francisco and northern San Mateo County. The SFGH Emergency Department is a 24-hour service licensed by the State of California and fully accredited by the Joint Commission as a Comprehensive Service Level I department to provide emergency and trauma care. San Francisco General Hospital provides 24-hour comprehensive emergent, urgent and non-urgent care to 98,000 adult and pediatric patients annually.

Behavioral Health Services

SFGH is dedicated to providing services that integrate medical, psychiatric, and addiction treatment. SFGH is the largest provider of acute psychiatric care and the only San Francisco provider of psychiatric emergency care.

The in-patient psychiatric units are culturally and ethnically focused. Clinical specialties include the evaluation and treatment of Asians, Latinos, African Americans, people with HIV or AIDS, and gay/lesbian/transgender patients experiencing acute mental illness. In addition, SFGH has an 11-bed unit dedicated to the care of forensic patients from the county jails of the City and County of San Francisco. SFGH also supports various outpatient mental health programs to provide clinical case management to victims of abuse and violence and to prevent future hospitalization.

SFGH is also involved in initiatives in collaboration with community programs focused on dual disorders, expansion of substance abuse services in primary care clinics, increased access to addiction services, a mobile methadone van, office-based opiate treatment, and expansion of hospital-based methadone maintenance and stimulant treatment.

Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES)

PES provides 24-hour, 7-day a week emergency assessment, stabilization and disposition for acutely ill adult psychiatric patients who are San Francisco County residents. PES is the only designated evaluation facility for adult patients placed on psychiatric holds (“5150”). PES also provides psychiatric consultation and evaluation to patients in other services of SFGH when needed. PES provides emergency consultation to programs including Child Crisis Services as well as emergency assessment and hospital placement for San Francisco patients placed in sub-acute facilities whom are experiencing an acute exacerbation.

San Francisco Behavioral Health Center

As a result of recommendations from a blue ribbon committee charged by the Mayor, the San Francisco Behavioral Health Center (SF BHC), formerly known as the Mental Health Rehabilitation Facility (MHRF), is currently being reconfigured to provide not only skilled nursing but multiple levels of care so that the mentally ill can receive a continuum of care within one facility.

59 beds for skilled nursing remain licensed by the State Department of Health Services (DHS) for patients who have complex, sub-acute medical problems in addition to their primary psychiatric diagnoses. As of July 2004, the facility also has a 47 bed Mental Health Rehabilitation Center (MHRC) licensed under the State Department of Mental Health (DMH). This program provides long term mental health services to the severely and persistently mentally ill that have more psychiatric versus medical conditions.

In addition, a 27-bed residential care facility and 14 bed residential treatment program are in the planning and development phases for Fall of 2004. These programs are for patients needing assistance with daily living skills or group therapy as a means to transition back into the community. Progress is monitored by an advisory committee consisting of mental health administrators, union representatives, and employees.

The facility also continues to house the Seneca Alternative Program, a contracted program that provides 24-hour residential care services for youth with serious emotional disorders. It is licensed by the State Department of Social Services’ Community Care Licensing Division as a Community Treatment Facility and serves approximately 22 adolescents with mental illness.

Primary Care and Subspecialty Clinics

The Community Health Network provides primary care through Health Centers located throughout the City and County of San Francisco. Six Health Centers are hospital-based. The Clinic Information Line provides a list of primary care clinics on the SFGH campus and in the community at (415) 206-5166.

Specific features of these centers are that: 1) medical care is comprehensive, continuous, accessible, organized, coordinated and accountable: 2) each Health Center has a target population defined by geography, age, gender, family, common illness, or cultural community: 3) they have organized methods utilizing epidemiology to assess the health needs of the target community: 4) they have programs designed to meet the community in the development and implementation of health programs.

SFGH also offers a myriad of outpatient specialty and surgical subspecialty clinics.

Pharmacy

The SFGH pharmacy provides comprehensive pharmaceutical services for inpatients and outpatients of the hospital and clinics. The inpatient pharmacy is staffed 24 hours a day and 365 days a year and provides unit-of-use drug packaging and distribution, intravenous solution preparation, record keeping and drug preparation for investigational studies, and pharmacist monitoring of drug therapy, storage, and use throughout the hospital.

Outpatient and discharge prescription services are provided through the SFGH outpatient pharmacy. Indigent patients who receive care from Community Health Network primary care clinics may use the SFGH outpatient pharmacy or a community pharmacy affiliated with their primary care clinic.

Main Outpatient Pharmacy - NH Room lP3 - (415) 206-8107
Monday - Friday	9:00 AM - 8:00 PM
Saturday	9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Sundays, Holidays	Closed

Interpreter Services

The Interpreter Services Department provides language assistance to Limited-English Proficient (LEP) Patients and the deaf/hearing impaired at San Francisco General Hospital. In accordance with our SFGH mission of commitment to access, Interpreter Services provides language assistance services in over 35 languages in person and telephonically to clients and their families. If you need interpreter services, please call (415) 206-5133 during business hours and (628) 206-8000 after hours.

Academics and Research

Through its long-standing affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), SFGH serves as a training ground to one of the top medical programs in the country. SFGH promotes academic excellence through its wide range of services for a diverse patient population. In addition to its commitment to providing the best patient care, SFGH is also a nucleus for innovative research. The SFGH campus is home to more than 20 UCSF research centers, affiliated institutes, and major laboratories. Over 160 UCSF principal investigators conduct research through programs based at the hospital campus with an annual budget over $83 million. Because it’s an academic hospital, SFGH is on the cutting edge of the latest medical advances.

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Please call 9-1-1 if this is a medical emergency. Please call San Francisco General Hospital at (628) 206-8000 for general information.

For issues or questions other than medically related, you may email the Department of Public Health.