A Year Unlike Any Other
As the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep across the country, Keck Medicine and the Keck School swiftly transitioned to a new normal that included remote events, telemedicine and distance learning. The Keck School's 2020 Match Day was one of our first fully remote events, with students sharing joy via social media.
Administrators from the Keck School and Keck Medicine made efforts to continue to honor student and staff accomplishments by holding virtual celebrations.
Events like Commencement looked different in 2020, but the joyful celebrations went on.
Telehealth
Keck Medicine's rapid adoption of telehealth helped ensure that patients could still receive the care they needed remotely.
Clinicians proved that effective care can be delivered via remote platforms.
Learning at a Distance
The Keck School transitioned classes to remote learning, even for very "hands on" curriculum, sometimes utilizing wearable cameras and 3D models for lab work.
Continued Excellence
During a pandemic, Keck Medicine's continuing commitment to patient safety and clinical excellence continued to be recognized. For the second year in a row, Keck Medical Center of USC ranked in the top 20 hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report 2020-21 Best Hospitals Honor Roll. We were also ranked among the top five hospitals in California and top three hospitals in the metro Los Angeles area. In addition, 11 of our specialties placed in the nation’s top 45.
Focus on Safety
The antimicrobial stewardship program has been awarded Silver Honor Roll Status with the California Department of Public Health at all three Keck Medicine hospitals: Keck Hospital of USC, USC Norris Cancer Hospital and USC Verdugo Hills Hospital.
And Keck Hospital of USC earned an “A” grade from The Leapfrog Group, an independent national patient safety watchdog organization, in the fall 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. This rating places Keck Hospital among the safest hospitals in the United States and follows the hospital’s spring 2020 and fall 2019 “A” grades.
Excellence in Research
Scientists and clinicians at the Keck School and Keck Medicine vigorously pursued dozens of coronavirus research projects and established a COVID-19 biorepository. We also participated in multiple COVID-19 treatment clinical trials, including an international phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in partnership with AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
The medical school’s research funding grew 12% in 2020, with seven departments at the school ranked in the top 10 nationally in NIH grant funding.
Expanding Services
Keck Medicine opened a location in Buena Park offering comprehensive medical oncology and radiation oncology care for a wide variety of cancers and blood diseases. The physicians speak Korean and offer a full range of services for the residents of Buena Park and the surrounding communities.
Community Connection
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the communities around Keck Medicine and the Keck School rallied to provide support to physicians, nurses and all frontline workers, gathering donations of personal protective equipment, emotional support and more. Here are a few snapshots of those donations.
COVID-19 at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital
The USC-VHH Emergency Department adapted its treatment areas to separate COVID-19 patients from the general population. Each patient could be treated safely and securely, reducing the risk of transmission to health care staff or the public.
The Foothills communities rallied around USC-VHH as well, donating food and iPads for COVID-positive patients to use while in isolation, and offering support to the frontline workers.
Working with local hospitals, including USC Verdugo Hills, Keck School students collected smartphones, tablet computers and laptops to help patients infected with COVID-19 stay connected with family and friends.
Connecting Across LA
Keck Medicine joined the Better Together consortium, which brings several health care institutions together to inform and encourage the greater Los Angeles community while looking beyond stay-at-home orders.
Addressing Social Issues
Over the summer, an assortment of health care workers and students gathered for peaceful demonstrations on behalf of White Coats for Black Lives.
The Street Medicine program, sponsored by the Keck School and Keck Medicine, continued to play a large role in providing care to the unhoused community in Los Angeles during the pandemic.
First-time Vote Center
During the recent general election, the Health Sciences Campus pulled double duty by serving as both a vote center for the first time and a place for people to get free flu shots. Nearly 400 individuals cast their ballots in person at the center, located on the first floor of the Soto 1 building, and 62 adults and children received flu shots.
We look forward to the opportunity of working alongside all of you in 2021, which, with COVID-19 vaccines on the near horizon, we expect to be filled with new hope and opportunity.