Answer to- how should I rank questions !
http://www.usnews.com/directories/h.../name+/metro_area+/zip+/distance+/detail+less
http://www.usnews.com/directories/h.../name+/metro_area+/zip+/distance+/detail+less
best hospital
- Thread starter Ritz
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Would you only date in high school based on the consensus of who was "hot" in someone else's eyes?
These rankings are basically as meaningless as a Parade magazine article on the "10 best places to eat a hot dog in America".
"Reputation. For 2008, a random sample of 200 physicians for each of the 16 specialties was drawn from the American Board of Medical Specialties database. (For 2006 and 2007, the source was the American Medical Association Masterfile.) They were asked to list five hospitals they consider among the best in their specialty for difficult cases, without taking into account cost or location. The number for a hospital in the "reputation" column of the rankings is the combined percentage of responding physicians who listed the hospital in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
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Because mortality data mean little in ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and rheumatology, hospitals were ranked by reputation alone in these specialties. Ranked hospitals were cited by at least 3 percent of responding physicians."
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Would you only date in high school based on the consensus of who was "hot" in someone else's eyes?
Nice! I have got to use that line!
Some Hospitals use it as an achievement. It definitely has low credibility. It is as confusing -as what program to rank higher- you know the best what works for yourself ! But is still interesting as the top hospitals were not totally off the order.
These rankings are basically as meaningless as a Parade magazine article on the "10 best places to eat a hot dog in America".
"Reputation. For 2008, a random sample of 200 physicians for each of the 16 specialties was drawn from the American Board of Medical Specialties database. (For 2006 and 2007, the source was the American Medical Association Masterfile.) They were asked to list five hospitals they consider among the best in their specialty for difficult cases, without taking into account cost or location. The number for a hospital in the "reputation" column of the rankings is the combined percentage of responding physicians who listed the hospital in 2006, 2007, and 2008.
....
Because mortality data mean little in ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and rheumatology, hospitals were ranked by reputation alone in these specialties. Ranked hospitals were cited by at least 3 percent of responding physicians."
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To think that the "random sample" of physicians actually know what goes on inside each of these psychiatry hospitals is laughable, at best. I mean, come on, how many of these psychiatrists actually have any idea how good these places are other then hear say and regurgitated opinions?
In addition, if the only places you've ever heard of are Ivy League Hospital A, B, and C, then of course you're going to rank these places.
The whole thing is
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Would you only date in high school based on the consensus of who was "hot" in someone else's eyes?
The unfortunate answer is that, yes, many people will date only based on other's opinion...
Yes, and that just proves the point that name recognition goes a long way...
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This ranking should probably be about as important to you as your OB rotation grade should be to your psych interviewers. It's nice if it's high, but if it's not, it may not mean much of anything.
Also, the list is heavily skewed to major metropolitan areas. Michigan dropped out this year or last, does that mean they're suddenly not one of the best places to get clinical care and to train? Of course not. These lists just aren't designed to pick up information about solid programs like Cincy and UNC and Wisconsin and Iowa and so on.
The only thing this list might tell you is how impressed some random doc on the street might be if they heard you were at a program. And that might have a very small correlation with program quality, but nothing you should think too hard about.
Also, the list is heavily skewed to major metropolitan areas. Michigan dropped out this year or last, does that mean they're suddenly not one of the best places to get clinical care and to train? Of course not. These lists just aren't designed to pick up information about solid programs like Cincy and UNC and Wisconsin and Iowa and so on.
The only thing this list might tell you is how impressed some random doc on the street might be if they heard you were at a program. And that might have a very small correlation with program quality, but nothing you should think too hard about.
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HEY!!! I had a damn good OBGYN grade (I am not sure why either cause you wouldn't catch me dead near the OB suite after I was done with the accursed OB part.)
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These rankings aren't intended to guide residency choice, and I agree that they are accurate only in a very general way.
For example, the combined Mass General General/McLean program may (or may not) deserve top billing, but it seems unlikely that either of the two separated is stronger than Columbia/Cornell/NYPH combined when it comes to some combination of faculty/resident rating. And on a negative note, I know of one hospital that has been ranked in the top 20 despite being composed of one small inpatient unit with no residents. Nevertheless, people love lists, and you can be sure that hospital administrators watch for changes in the numbers.
For example, the combined Mass General General/McLean program may (or may not) deserve top billing, but it seems unlikely that either of the two separated is stronger than Columbia/Cornell/NYPH combined when it comes to some combination of faculty/resident rating. And on a negative note, I know of one hospital that has been ranked in the top 20 despite being composed of one small inpatient unit with no residents. Nevertheless, people love lists, and you can be sure that hospital administrators watch for changes in the numbers.
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As always, rankings for training and treatment are two different things. Using a concept from another thread - if your mother (maybe not your mother OPD)was mentally ill, where you would want her hospitalized? Probably somewhere with nice architecture, a minimum of threatening/dangerous patients, and a nice open "pass" policy so she could go home for visits on weekends. IMHO this would not necessarily be the best place to train b/c you want to be exposed to the most acutely ill patients so that you could learn to deal with the "worst case" scenarios.
