With the new UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center set to open on Sunday, a group of 70 diplomats from 42 different countries toured the hospital on Monday and got a final up-close look at the innovative technologies the hospital has to offer before its doors open for patients.
The tour was part of Experience America, a new program organized by U.S. Chief of Protocol Nancy Brinker in an attempt to connect diplomats based in Washington with the rest of the nation and build a deeper understanding about pressing issues in the world.
The tour got up close and personal with the new hospital and was exposed to the newest advancements in the medical world as well as the hospital’s modern interior design, demonstrating the medical center’s threefold mission, said Dr. Gerald Levey, dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
“Providing the best clinical care, teaching the next generation of doctors and conducting cutting-edge research are this hospital’s priorities,” Levey said. “It was a 14-year-long odyssey of planning and collaborating to create the final product.”
To capture this journey and mission, the tour started with a demonstration of “Robo Doc”, a patient simulation program used as a teaching and training tool. Then, the group was able to catch a glimpse of the emergency department and also got to travel to the sixth floor, which houses the neurology department. The hospital has a total of 520 beds, and every patient room in the entire hospital is single occupancy. The only exception is on the neurology floor, which contains a room with two special beds, a PET/CT brain scanner on one end and an MRI brain scanner on the other.
Having these machines together and appearing next-door to patient care is unmatched in other hospitals, said Dr. Neil Martin, chief of neurosurgery, as he spoke about the neurology department to the diplomats on the tour.
“This will allow research in the field of brain science to occur in the midst of caring for patients with medical disorders,” Martin said. “It brings together the mission of research and care, which is the goal of the new hospital.”
The diplomats on tour were impressed by the new hospital, but some expressed concern about technology taking over actual medical ability. Perezi Kamunanwire, Uganda’s ambassador to the U.S., said the technology is unmatched, but he had questions about the medical education process.
“With technology getting so advanced, doctors cannot work away from their equipment,” Kamunanwire said. He added that his country loses many doctors to the U.S. since they come here for training and end up staying since the work conditions are ideal.
In addition, ambassadors from other countries were impressed with the cost of building the new medical center, some commenting that the $1 billion it took to construct the hospital was more than their entire country’s federal budget.
“That really put things into perspective when we put in so much effort to deliver great care, but there are places in the world where people die from shortages of water,” said Dr. David Feinberg, CEO of the UCLA Hospital System. This is why cultural exchanges of this sort are important, since it allows us to see from other perspectives, he added.
The tour at UCLA was hosted by the International Institute, and its next stops will be in Silicon Valley and San Francisco before the tour returns to Washington.