Child Mag Unveils Best Peds Hospitals

[otter41]

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In one is quickly becoming one of the better objective studies in the relative strengths of different children's hospital, Child Mag today released their list of best children's hospitals. I won't belabor their ranking system...you can find details at http://www.childmagazine.com/kids/health_nutrition/top_hospitals05.jsp?page=1
but for those who just like the names:

Top Ten Children's Hospitals

1. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
2. Children's Hospital Boston
3. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
4. Texas Children's Hospital, Houston
5. Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, Cleveland
6. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
7. The Children's Hospital, Denver
8. Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville
9. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
10. (tie) Children's Hospital Los Angeles
10. (tie) St. Louis Children's Hospital

Runners-up
12. Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas City, KS
13. Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle
14. The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Ann Arbor
15. Primary Children's Medical Center, Salt Lake City
16. Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, New York City
17. Schneider Children's Hospital, New Hyde Park, NY
18. Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis
19. Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC
20. Columbus Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH
21. All Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL
22. The University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital
23. Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital, Charleston
24. Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange, CA
25. Arkansas Children's Hospital, Little Rock

As always, the caveat of such rankings as it regards residency is that as while these honors can add weight to your decisions of where might be a highly-regarded place to spend three years, they are certainly not objective measures of how happy any of the resident doctors in the program are or how successfully they educate residents. And tradition sometimes dictates those programs that are perennial favorites.

Have said that, this list has had high turnover this year. I would specifically point to the inclusion of Medical College of Wisc so highly on the list and Vandy Children's. You can decide if that is a positive or negative but I feel that it reflects a desire for the survey to reward places that are truely striving for cutting-edge excellence. I interviewed at MCW and am a resident at Vandy. I think both programs are deserving of the sudden spotlight for their dedication to family-centered care and quality services. I am also happy to see Riley Children's in Indy make the HM list as I think it is a gem of a residency program with wonderful people.

Good luck to those of you finished up residency interviews this months and thinking about your rank lists. I hope this info might help as you consider the best place for you.

 

[kas23]

I have a really hard time respecting any list that doesn't include Johns Hopkins Children's Center and more importantly, Cincinnati Children's. And where is Children's Memorial (besides in Chicago). How fishy. Not including such obviously very good-great institutions usually points to a significant political component in their criteria.

 

[jamie]

I, too, noticed a conspicuous absence of hospitals like Cincinnati, but it was nice to see the addition of some hospitals that aren't "the usuals."

Here is what the rankings are based on:
"survival rates for childhood cancers, heart surgeries, organ transplants, and premature births; staff qualifications; nurse-to-patient ratios; research funding and the number of clinical trials; the availability of playrooms, lending libraries, and activities to help a child's hospital experience seem less frightening; and family services like support groups and sleeping accommodations for parents."

Besides the research aspects, not a whole lot pertaining to residency training. Take it for what it's worth.

 

[SoonerBJJ]

Such lists should be taken with a grain of sand. As others have said there are glaring omissions and several questionable listings.