2005 in review: Rising star of children's hospitals, Lucile Packard
BY KRISTA CONGER
Make way for the new kid on the block! That's the message from the U.S. News & World Report's annual issue focusing on "America's Best Hospitals." In July, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital became the youngest member of an elite group: one made up of the top 10 children's hospitals in the country, as determined by the magazine's survey. Packard Children's achievement is a resounding vote of confidence by pediatricians nationwide, who placed the hospital above all other children's hospitals on the West Coast when asked where they were most likely to refer difficult pediatric cases.
"It's noteworthy that Packard Children's been able to achieve in 14 years what others have taken over a century to achieve," said Lawrence McAndrews, CEO of the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions. "The hospital's leadership should be proud of their successes."
These successes are the likely reason for the hospital's steady march up through the ranks during the past several years, from No. 18 in 2003 to No. 12 in 2004 and now No. 10 in 2005. Results of the survey are highly regarded in the health-care industry.
Highlights of the past year include the first bariatric surgery at a pediatric hospital in California, life-saving surgery on the smallest baby ever to survive an open-heart arterial switch procedure and successful completion of the 75th steroid-free kidney transplant using a protocol developed by physicians at Packard Children's. The year also saw the publication or presentation of groundbreaking research in areas ranging from HIV-treatment of infected newborns, to how nitric oxide can benefit or harm premature babies, to how Web sites promoting anorexia are used by adolescents with eating disorders and how having a television in the bedroom can lower a child's standardized test scores.
"The word is out," said the hospital's CEO Christopher Dawes. "We take on some of the most challenging cases from around the corner and around the world. This is a very special recognition of what our faculty and staff have built and continue to build— a nationally and internationally pre-eminent children's hospital."
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