The Dallas County Hospital District, a tax-supported entity of the City and County of Dallas is responsible for Parkland, which is physically connected to the UT Southwestern complex. T,he agreement between the Hospital District and the medical school stipulates that the chairmen of the departments at the school are the chiefs of service at Parkland; thus, Parkland essentially functions as a university hospital.

Parkland is nationally recognized as an exemplary county hospital. This status is due to the generous support of Dallas County taxpayers, who have consistently demonstrated their commitment to the hospital by approving bond issues for improvement and additions. In addition, the chief executive officer, Ron Anderson, M.D., is a former Parkland intern, resident, and chiefresident in Internal Medicine. Dr. Anderson attends on the wards and is particularly sensitive to Internal Medicine house staff issues.

Over the last several years Parkland has added a multimillion-dollar structure that houses some fifty state-of-the-art ICU beds, a dialysis center, two CT and two MRI scanners, and seven floors of modern clinic space. Each ward team has its own dedicated rounding room, in which are located computers with access to the UT Southwestern library, the worldwide web, and all patient information. The new $4.5 million Algur H. MeadowsDiagnostic Imaging Center serves Parkland in collaboration with UT Southwestern and University Hospital. Additionally, the entire interior of Parkland has undergone an extensive modernization that has made it more comfortable and appealing. Rebuilding of Radiation Therapy marks the first step in realizing the hospital's comprehensive cancer plan. Upcoming programs of expansion include the Center for the Study and Treatment of Human Injury, the Shock Trauma Institute, and a Chronic Rehabilitation Center. Ancillary services at Parkland  include twice-daily phlebotomy service and a computerized laboratory data-retrieval system, minimizing the amount of time that the intern spends on unproductive chores.

The hospital has a capacity of 905 beds, with approximately 180 of these assigned to Internal Medicine. Parkland maintains an occupancy rate consistently above 90 percent. There are not many private patients, and house staff enjoy the autonomy necessary to become excellent primary-care physicians. Directly connected to the medical school on a floor-by-floor basis, Parkland affords close access to faculty offices and laboratories and a major research library.

Twelve services staff the internal medicine wards at Parkland , three services admitting every fourth night. Interns and Residents each receive one day off per week. The average service census is eight to ten patients. Each service consists of an attending physician (full-time faculty member), one resident (PGY-2 or 3), one or two interns (PGY-1), one fourth-year, and two or three third-year medical students, providing close support for the intern and adequate opportunity for the resident to pursue academic endeavors.

Most patients are admitted from the emergency room and are acutely ill. A broad spectrum of illness presents de novo off the street, challenging the house officers, who are always the first to evaluate patients. Common medical problems are encountered frequently, allowing the interns to become exceedingly adept at their management, but many of the patients referred to the faculty for tertiary care are hospitalized at Parkland. A recently renovated library for the sole use of internal medicine house staff provides around-the-clock access to core texts and recent journals in internal medicine and its subspecialties.