Today, Cincinnati Children’s was named one of Parents Magazine’s 10 Best Children’s Hospitals – number 3 to be exact! This is an honor for the medical center and a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our more than 13,000 employees who work to improve child health here in Cincinnati, across the U.S. and around the world.
In addition to the overall ranking, Parents Magazine also ranked six pediatric supspecialties in their “Best” list. Here’s where Cincinnati Children’s stacked up in the specialty rankings:
#1 in Pulmonary Care
#2 in Emergency Care
#2 in Orthopedic Care
#3 in Heart Care
#3 in NICU/Preemie Care
#3 in Cancer Care
We thought you might want to know a bit about what makes each of these programs one of the best in the country. The following is an overview. There is way too much good stuff going on to fit it all into a blog post. The webpages for each subspecialty are linked within the text. Please check them out for a full view of the programs. And, please comment here if you have any questions that we can help answer.
#1-ranked Pulmonary Care at Cincinnati Children’s is dedicated to helping every child be able to blow out the candles on their next birthday cake. Most people take 17,000 breaths a day without even thinking about it, but for children with lung disease, breathing isn’t always so easy – and blowing out a birthday candle can seem an intimidating task.
Our lung program is one of the largest in the nation and includes specialized centers for cystic fibrosis, asthma, sleep disorders and rare lung diseases. We are one of only 10 specially designated Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Research Centers in the United States.
From the most routine to the most rare, we have a team of experts from a range of specialties who work together with one goal in mind: to provide the best possible evaluation and treatment for kids with lung problems.
#2-ranked Emergency Care at Cincinnati Children’s is a busy business. We had 147,000 emergency and urgent care patient visits in 2012 – making us one of the busiest pediatric emergency departments in the country. But with volume comes experience, which means our doctors, nurses and other caregivers have seen just about everything, giving them each a unique knowledge set that helps them expertly care for each child when he or she needs it most.
The experts in our emergency departments are committed to making patients as comfortable as possible during their time in the ED and to providing the best possible care to children in the event of an emergency.
Cincinnati Children’s is a Level I trauma center, providing the highest level of surgical care to children in the event of a life-threatening emergency. Our trauma service is one of the largest children’s hospital-based trauma services in the U.S. and a leader in improving care for injured children – from prevention to recovery.
#2-ranked Orthopaedic Care at Cincinnati Children’s is exceptional because our surgeons have specialized areas of focus on particular diseases and processes; they are truly the best of the best at what they each do.
The division of orthopaedics at Cincinnati Children’s is home to one of the largest and most technically advanced referral centers for spine care – our team cares for more than 1,300 spine patients annually. It is also home to the largest brachial plexus team in the country.
Our clinical research is data driven and on the cutting edge of new techniques.We have tremendous orthopaedic nursing support throughout the program. And the long history of innovation and excellence that is associated with orthopaedics at Cincinnati Children’s allows us to attract and retain the best new surgeons who bring with them the newest clinical advances, giving our patients access to innovative new treatment options.
#3-ranked Heart Care is centered in Cincinnati Children’s Heart Institute. Last year we saw nearly 16,000 patients from 42 states and 19 countries, making us both a local and international referral center for heart care. And here’s why our patients travel both near and far: in the last four years, we’ve created 10 new clinical programs to address the unique physical, emotional, and social needs of our heart patients:
• Adolescent and Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program
• Advanced Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure Program
• Cardiovascular Genetic Counseling Clinic
• Cardiovascular Genetics Program
• Center for Acute Care Nephrology
• Center for Better Health and Nutrition
• Kindervelt Neurodevelopmental, Education and Learning Clinic
• Mechanical Circulatory Support – Ventricular Assist Device Program (VAD)
• Perinatal Cardiology Program
• Single Ventricle Interstage Clinic
Noteworthy from this list is the ventricular assist device program. With the addition of surgeon Dr. David Morales, we can bridge patients with medically resistant heart failure until they receive a transplant. Also notable is the Kindervelt Neurodevelopmental, Education and Learning Clinic program. It addresses the many learning, language, developmental, behavioral and emotional issues children with complex heart disease may face.
The addition of these new programs and capabilities has allowed us to better meet the needs of our patients and families, and ultimately, change the outcome for children with heart disease.
#3-ranked NICU/Preemie Care is centered in our Perinatal Institute. Our physicians care for infants at all of the regional birth hospitals as well as here at Cincinnati Children’s. Initial care is provided at the birth hospitals, where every effort is made to keep mothers and babies together.
If an infant requires a higher level of care or access to subspecialty experts, our dedicated neonatal transport team provides ground and air transport to the Cincinnati Children’s NICU 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from local, regional, national and international referral sites. Our pediatric subspecialists collaborate with neonatologists to treat rare and complex conditions. We employ the latest technologies within in our NICU, giving premature and sick newborns the best chance for a good outcome.
We have more than 60 researchers collaborating with clinical teams and healthcare leaders to understand the causes of disorders in newborn infants and translate discoveries to clinical care.
Our Level IV NICU provides the highest level of medical care to premature and critically ill newborns and is one of the largest, most-sophisticated intensive care units for newborns in the United States.
#3-ranked Cancer Care is centered in the Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute at Cincinnati Children’s, where we believe our success is rooted to our culture of compassion. We work in pediatric cancer “dream teams” of scientists and clinical experts that focus on common and high impact cancers to develop new cures and innovative approaches.
We are an international referral center for leading-edge new therapies and surgeries for high risk and relapsed leukemia & lymphoma, brain tumors, neuroblastoma, liver and kidney tumors, retinoblastoma, sarcomas, and vascular tumors. Cincinnati Children’s is home to one of the world’s largest marrow & stem cell transplant programs where the team is using innovative new approaches to give each patient the best chance for a good outcome. We make science count for the patient.
We are one of the nation’s largest new anticancer drug development programs dedicated to childhood cancers and we are regularly recognized for “next generation” patient safety initiatives and process improvement programs.
Our physicians are national leaders in advancing the agenda for care of children with cancer and we are proud to be the only hospital in the country selected as a member of all four competitive government-funded groups that conduct experimental research for pediatric cancer.
We love Cincinnati Children’s and think Otolaryngology is #1. Doctors Cotton, Rutter, and de Alarcon, as well as the entire ENT/Aero team can be credited with giving our daughter her voice and her life. We travel from CT to Cincinnati and would move here if we needed to. It is the best.