How Patients Can Find Care Through WashU Medicine

Updated

WashU Medicine is the medical school and physician practice of Washington University in St. Louis, and patients reach its doctors primarily through the Find a Doctor tool on medicine.washu.edu, with hospital care delivered through partners such as BJC HealthCare. Use this guide if you are a prospective patient trying to locate a physician, understand where care takes place, or explore clinical trials and patient stories before deciding.

Start With the Find a Doctor Tool

The homepage places Find a Doctor among its primary navigation links, alongside Admissions and Giving. That is the intended entry point for patients.

  • Input: what you already know — a doctor's name, or a specialty or condition.
  • Action: use the Find a Doctor link in the site's main navigation.
  • Expected result: a directory of WashU Medicine physicians you can browse to identify a suitable doctor.

The site does not publish a step-by-step description of the search filters, so treat the directory itself as the place to confirm which specialties, locations, and accepting-new-patients status are listed for each physician.

Understand Where Care Is Delivered

WashU Medicine describes its patient care as backed by "an entire institution of medical excellence," and its site lists hospital partners as a distinct section under Patient Care. BJC HealthCare appears on the site as an affiliated partner, and the site also references BJC Investigators within its research pages — evidence that the academic and hospital sides are closely linked.

Practical implication: when you search for a doctor, expect that the visit may take place at a partner hospital rather than a single standalone clinic. Confirm the practice location on the physician's directory listing before scheduling.

Use Patient Stories and Clinical Trials to Compare Options

Two further sections help you move from "who can I see" to "what should I expect":

Section What it gives you When to use it
Patient Stories First-person accounts of care experiences Before choosing a specialty or approach, to see how care is described
Clinical Trials Information on studies underway at WashU Medicine When standard options feel insufficient, or you want to ask your doctor about research participation

Clinical trials are listed under Patient Care on the site, which signals they are presented as a patient-facing option rather than purely a research activity. If you are considering one, raise it directly with the physician you find through the directory — eligibility is determined case by case and is not something the website can settle for you.

Know Which Audience Page You Need

The site organizes information by audience, and choosing the wrong one is the most common way visitors get lost:

  • Prospective Students / Current Students — admissions, MD program, research training programs, financial support.
  • Faculty, Staff, Administrators, Researchers — internal and academic resources.
  • Alumni & Friends — giving and alumni relations.
  • Job Seekers — employment.
  • Patients — Find a Doctor, Patient Care, Patient Stories, Clinical Trials.

If your goal is care, stay within Patient Care and Find a Doctor; the education and research sections describe training and discovery, not appointment scheduling.

A Reasonable Sequence for a New Patient

  1. Open medicine.washu.edu and select Find a Doctor.
  2. Search by name if you have a referral; otherwise browse by specialty or condition.
  3. Note the practice location and confirm it sits with a partner hospital such as BJC.
  4. Read a relevant Patient Story to understand what the care pathway looks like.
  5. Check Clinical Trials only if you want to ask about research options, and bring that question to the doctor.

Limits to Keep in Mind

The site's homepage does not state appointment phone numbers, insurance accepted, wait times, or costs, and no pricing or login requirements are described in the available material. Those details must be confirmed with the specific practice you identify through the directory. The site also notes links to third-party websites and its own privacy policy, so information you enter on partner sites is governed by their terms, not WashU Medicine's.