U.S.News Names St. Louis Children's Among Best Children's Hospitals in America
Children’s is the only hospital in eight-state region to rank in all 10 categories
St. Louis Children’s Hospital-Washington University has again been named among the nation’s elite pediatric hospitals on the Honor Roll of U.S.News & World Report’s 2011 listing of America’s Best Children’s Hospitals.
St. Louis Children’s Hospital is one of only 11 pediatric hospitals that made the Honor Roll by ranking in all 10 specialties evaluated. It is the only hospital in Missouri and the surrounding eight-state region to receive Honor Roll status.
Hospitals are ranked in cancer, diabetes and endocrine disorders, digestive disorders, heart and heart surgery, kidney disorders, neonatal care, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, respiratory disorders, and urology. The specialty survey is the most extensive pediatric hospital report prepared by a U.S. publication.
“We have the privilege of caring for patients and their families from across our community, the nation and the globe every day,” says hospital President Lee Fetter. “The U.S.News Honor Roll is an important validation that our staff and physician partners at Washington University School of Medicine are consistently delivering our mission: to do what’s right for kids by providing safe care, effective care and exceptional service.”
This is the ninth consecutive year St. Louis Children’s Hospital has been honored by U.S.News, published online at usnews.com/childrenshospitals and featured in the Best Hospitals print guide published by U.S. News, available on newsstands August 30.
About the 2011 Rankings
U.S.News invited 177 pediatric centers to complete the 95-page survey, which included across-the-board questions about nurse-to-patient ratio and infection-reduction measures, as well as more specialty-specific data, like kidney biopsy complications, or clinical successes in treating certain cancers.
Whether a hospital was ranked, and if so how high, depended on its showing in three areas: reputation among pediatric specialists (25%), clinical outcomes such as cancer survival (35%), and care-related indicators of quality such as the number of patients, nurse staffing, and availability of specialized programs (40%).
The data was reviewed by a group of more than 115 medical directors, department chairs, infection specialists and other experts, overseen by RTI, an international research and consulting firm that also oversees the U.S. News Best Hospitals list.
