Dr. Douglas Nelson, MD

Dr. Nelson attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, then received his medical degree from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. He completed a residency in Pediatrics at St Christopher’s Hospital for Children, and fellowship training in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is board-certified in Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and is fluent in medical Spanish. He is on the medical staffs of Primary Children’s Medical Center, and the University of Utah Medical Center.

Dr. Nelson has been on the faculty of the University of Utah School of Medicine for 19 years. He is a Professor of Pediatrics, and is a member of the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine. He has served as the associate division chief, fellowship director, schedule coordinator, and currently, as Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Primary Children’s Medical Center.

As the Medical Director of the only pediatric emergency department …(ED) in the Intermountain West, Dr. Nelson’s responsibilities include the overseeing the medical care provided to the over 40,000 ill or injured children seen in the ED annually. His administrative initiatives include creating more flexible staffing to better meet the challenge of highly variable patient volumes, and instituting a team-based approach to seeing patients, to minimize the number of times a patient history must be provided, and decrease communication missteps.

Dr. Nelson also currently serves as the chair of the Hospitals‘ Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, and is a member of the Intermountain Emergency Medicine Development Team. Dr. Nelson is also involved in the development of new information systems for use within the Intermountain health care network, and sits on Intermountain Health Care’s Medical Information committee. He has conducted numerous Quality Improvement studies within Primary Children’s Medical Center, and is a member of the hospital’s Family Advisory Council.