The residency program began on July 1, 1973 at Kansas City General Hospital with three residents making it one of the first in the nation and the first to be endorsed by the Liaison Residency Endorsement Committee, a precursor organization to the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education.

In December 1976, the program moved into the brand new Truman Medical Center (TMC) which is still its primary site for the residency.  At that time the ED had about 30 beds and 5 residents per year.  In 2005, the ED was completely remodeled into a 50 bed state-of-the-art facility with three trauma/resuscitation bays and a department CT scanner.  In 2021, Truman Medical Centers rebranded itself into University Health (UH) to promote its academic affiliation as the primary teaching facility for the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  UH continues in the tradition and mission of serving as the safety net hospital for the citizens of Kansas City, Missouri and Jackson County, Missouri.

There are other affiliated hospitals located nearby UH that provide additional clinical opportunities for our residents.  Children’s Mercy Hospital, is the regional pediatric tertiary care facility and Saint Luke’s Hospital, is a large tertiary care hospital housing the Mid-America Heart Institute and the Marion Bloch Neuroscience Institute.  Both are teaching hospitals for UMKC School of Medicine.

Despite changes over the years, the mission of UH has not changed and it is exemplified by the above quote from Shakespeare which was originally over the door of “Old General Hospital” and is now displayed outside of UH-TMC.