The History of LSU Hospital in Shreveport

The Louisiana State University Hospital in Shreveport was created by the Louisiana Legislature in 1976 when it authorized the merger of the Confederate Memorial Medical Center, a 100 year old state charity hospital, into the LSU System and the Medical Center. The merger of the hospital was effected October 1, 1976, as specified by Act 385 of the 1976 legislative session. Following the merger, the Act further directed that “...the Board of Supervisors of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College shall establish such procedures and policies as shall be necessary to effectively use Confederate Memorial Medical Center at Shreveport as a teaching institution without impairment of the functions for which this institution was created.”

The change in philosophy from a state charity hospital to a university teaching hospital was reflected in the subsequent change in name from Confederate Memorial Medical Center to Louisiana State University Hospital Shreveport on July 28, 1978. Since the mid-1970s the University Hospital has continued to undergo major renovation and expansion of physical facilities. A new Ambulatory Care Building will provide expanded clinic areas to care for the more than 443,000 outpatient visits each year.

The scope of patient care ranges from primary care delivered in outpatient clinic visits to sophisticated tertiary care programs directed by faculty in the School of Medicine academic clinical departments of Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine and Comprehensive Care, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Pathology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Radiology, Surgery, and Urology, and their subspecialty sections.

Subspecialty expertise by faculty who also are attending physicians at the University Hospital provides the basis for regional tertiary care programs which include cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, hematology, oncology, oral surgery, infectious diseases, nephrology, neurology, sleep disorders, pulmonary medicine, rheumatology, neurosurgery, genetics, pulmonary diseases and allergy in children, open heart surgery, pediatric surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, organ transplantation, burn and trauma, and bone marrow transplantation. The LSU Hospital provides a Level I Trauma Center as a regional resource.

In its educational role, the University Hospital provides graduate medical education programs, accredited by appropriate bodies, for physicians in specialty training as house officers and fellows in 18 postgraduate training programs. It serves as the primary site for clinical education programs for approximately 410 medical students, as well as students of the School of Allied Health Professions, and students from other state universities who are pursuing degrees such as nursing, medical records and dietetics. By training health professionals to care for Louisiana residents’ health needs, the University Hospital is fulfilling its goal in pursuit of its stated objectives.