When somebody is sick or injured in and around Birmingham, Alabama, several options exist for care. 

But only one has received ACEP’s Emergency Department Accreditation Program (EDAP) stamp of approval. The University of Alabama at Birmingham is the first ED—and only for now—to attain this accreditation. UAB was notified in late February of this achievement after several months of navigating the process and supplying information to back up the vision and prove it meets the requirements. 

“Although it’s probably not planned and a bad day in somebody’s life, we want people to choose to come to UAB like they would choose to go to their favorite restaurant,” said Laine McDonald, MD, UAB ED Medical Director and Clinical Associate Professor. “And not because we’re big and have so many physicians and specialists on staff, but because of the genuine compassionate care we deliver.” 

Dr. McDonald, along with a team of ED clinicians and support staff, were required to show that UAB met certain criteria and provided data to reinforce the claim. Criteria are broken down into categories such as physician/hospital staffing, physician contracting, quality, policies, and resources. UAB achieved Level 1 Accreditation and helped launch the program as one of six pilot sites. 

The University of Maryland Medical Center, John Peter Smith Hospital in Texas, Novant Health Forsyth in North Carolina, and Holy Cross Medical Center in New Mexico are serving as pilots and providing ACEP information on their EDs. 

The EDAP was created to elevate emergency care, ensuring that hospitals meet quality standards. 

Dr. McDonald said the journey toward becoming the first accredited ED in the nation meant validating some of the strategies and tactics the UAB team has been following for years. 

“There is a stellar team within this department,” she said. “And I do think, as soon as they kind of heard that there was this opportunity for accreditation, all the ducks were in line to pull everything together – the necessary data and quality measures and things that they’ve been doing for a long, long time.” 

UAB has Alabama’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and the only Level 1 Burn Center, and when you consider its comprehensive services for stroke and heart attack, McDonald said there’s plenty for UAB to brag about. But adding this layer of affirmation through ACEP means patients, the health care team, and the public will know what kind of care they will receive.