5:00 January 05, 2005
Milwaukee's Children's Hospital ranked by Child magazine as the 3rd best in U.S.

Child Magazine

February 2005

2005's 10 Best Children's Hospitals

Child's exclusive report reveals the nation's top pediatric centers and five new specialty rankings.

By Maureen P. Sangiorgio

Five years ago, when we began planning our first ranking of pediatric hospitals, there's no way we could have anticipated how much it would affect children's medical care. Yes, we realized then that it was the only comprehensive, data-driven ranking of these institutions (and it still is). We knew, too, that parents would use our winners to help them make smart healthcare decisions for their kids. But we never expected that our survey -- now 164 questions, many with multiple parts -- would help hospitals assess themselves and, ultimately, elevate care for all children. "Through the survey, we have identified our strengths and our opportunities to improve," says Tom Bonner, a senior vice president at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. "Our CEO said that whatever the outcome, he wanted to use the survey to target our areas for improvement. We're focusing on that now."

Adds Emily Turk, a writer who spoke to several hospitals about their experience for the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions: "I constantly heard that Child magazine's survey is a learning tool for hospitals. One hospital even said the survey sets performance standards that all hospitals should shoot for."

So as not to disappoint, we doubled the number of survey questions this year, with new sections on patient safety, emergency medicine, and orthopedics. (For details about the selection process, see "Choosing the Winners".)

And the result? In the closest race to date, we found that five of the previous top 10 hospitals remained winners and six new ones made the list (we have a tie for 10th place). Many of the newcomers stepped up their patient safety and research efforts or opened a new facility since we conducted the last survey two years ago. The following report -- the result of eight months of research and analysis -- reveals the overall winners and the five best hospitals in cardiology, oncology, neonatalogy, emergency care, and orthopedics.

3. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

• Plans to be the country's first digital pediatric hospital by 2007, replacing most paper documents and X-ray films with computer-based information to reduce the risk of medical or medication errors

• Spearheaded Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam's Memory), which provides education to begin automated external defibrillator programs in schools

• Boasts the highest level of retention of pediatric intensive-care nurses in the U.S.

• Has one of the nation's highest one-year survival rates for bone marrow transplants

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin has a busy emergency room, logging 66,000 patient visits in 2003. But the hospital wants business to be slower. "We track the most common reasons children come into our ER. Then we develop unique programs to keep them out of the hospital," says Marc Gorelick, M.D., the department's medical director.

Among the innovations: Project Ujima (Swahili for "Working together to make things right"), which focuses on youth-violence prevention and intervention. "We offer counseling services to children who have been intentionally injured as well as their peers and their families," explains Dr. Gorelick. In six consecutive years, fewer than 2% of youth victims participating in Project Ujima have reported a repeat violent injury. What's more, close to 90% have improved school attendance and grades.

The hospital is also one of the founding members of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network. ER physicians are working with other hospitals to study problems such as head injury and seizures. Their findings may someday help kids like 2-year-old Samantha Rickaby, who was severely injured in a car crash and taken by helicopter to the Level I trauma center at the hospital. "Samantha wasn't breathing when rescue workers pulled her out of the car," says her mom, Theresa, who was transported by ambulance to a different hospital.

When the toddler was wheeled into the ER, the 15-member trauma team sprang into action, examining her from head to toe and stabilizing her with IV fluids and pain medication. Within just 27 minutes, Samantha was out of the trauma room and received a CT scan. After the scan showed that the toddler had severe head trauma and a skull fracture behind her right ear, she was transferred to the pediatric intensive-care unit, where she was reunited with her mother. "Sam spent seven days in the hospital," says Theresa. "It was an emotional roller coaster because we had to worry about her brain swelling. Thank God, that never happened."

CARDIAC CARE

5. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

Last year, the hospital became only one of a handful of pediatric centers to successfully repair ventricular septal defects -- the most common congenital heart defect, in which one or more holes are present in the muscular wall that separates the right and left ventricles -- in the catheterization lab rather than opening up the heart for surgery.

EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE

1. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

Despite its high volume of patients, the hospital's ER typically has waits of an hour or less and, unlike many children's hospitals, did not have to place beds in hallways, waiting rooms, and other overflow areas in 2003.

Copyright © 2005. Reprinted with permission from the February 2005 issue of Child Magazine.