Long Island College Hospital was founded as a medical school and as a hospital in 1858. This 516-bed teaching hospital is located in the Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill section and serves as the center of the continuum services of Brooklyn. This hospital is the primary clinical teaching affiliate of the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center). The School of Nursing of Long Island College Hospital is one of the oldest in the country. Throughout the years, the hospital has made exceptional contributions to medicine in the U.S.; in fact, in 1860, Long Island College Hospital became the first medical school in the country to make bedside teaching part of its medical curriculum. This helped to establish an approach that was adopted throughout the country.
The first medical achievements of the faculty of Long Island College Hospital include the early use of anesthesia and the introduction of the stethoscope. The Long Island College of Medicine was incorporated as a separate medical school in 1930 while the Long Island College Hospital continued as its hospital affiliate. In 1954, the Long Island College of Medicine became part of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn (SUNY-Downstate Medical Center). Today, Long Island College Hospital is still the primary teaching affiliate of SUNY-Downstate Medical Center; the hospital offers training programs for resident physicians in more than 20 medical specialties. Parking in the garage of Long Island College Hospital is available for patients, patient's guests and visitors.