A Look Inside the Hospital Rankings

Best Survival Rates - James of AR

To James of AR: Where can you find the survival rates for diseases at various hospitals?

Nursing measures invalid

USNWR uses two measures of nursing "quality" that having absolutely nothing to do with nursing quality.

1 - Nurse to patient ratio is not even accepted by nurses as a valid estimate of the quality of nursing care. A ratio is too simplistic to measure a very complicated aspect of care. Many people may help with "nursing duties" and include patient care techs, nursing aides, unit clerks, etc. Also, health IT and unit design can reduce wasted nursing time. The goal is greater nurse to patient "bedside" time for care, education, etc. But a nursing ratio is no indication of that.

2 - Magnet status and the requirements for obtaining and maintaining magnet status have nothing to do with quality of bedside care. Magnet primarily measures resources dedicated to nursing administration as some weird proxy for the bedside nurses. For instance, nursing advancement tracks do not necessarily include nursing competence. Also, nursing core measures are difficult to apply and obtain meaning from nursing care in many of the specialties upon which the USNWR ratings are focused. "Good nursing hospitals" may be found on the Magent list, but there are also some quite hospitals with poor nursing. There are also hospitals with excellent nursing practice and professional environment that do not need to waste the time and money on chasing Magnet recognition. Magnet recognition is very expensive and time consuming, and the demonstrated mipact on improving patient outcomes may not even be positive. In fact, Magnet seems to be just something for sale - as hospitals just pursuing (not even earned) Magnet status are allowed to display the logo. Do you think a doctor should be allowed to display a medical school degree because, though she has yet to earn it, is pursuing it? A good idea gone awry, nursing Magnet status is simply cut a check and here;s your logo.

Large, academic centers such as those listed in the USNWR top hospitals will do well with these nursing measures. However, both measures are heavily biased towards hospitals with hordes of new grad nurses who start cheap, and who are pushed aside in a few years just when they are becoming truly competent nurses in their own. There are other, much more valid measures of nursing quality being used by health services researchers - such as the turnover of frontline nurses. The continuing insitence of USNWR on these two invalid measures raises serious questions about the validity of the ratings and the motives of the proejct.

But, it does sell issues.

Why are infectious disease departments not ranked?

With MRSA, ORSA and Serratia, hospital acquired, in remission in my body, and needing surgery to paste failed spinal surgery together, I am in dire need of an expert in infectious disease. I cannot find any ranking that helps me find out which hospitals have the best in ID doctors. Give us a break...these staph bacteria are affecting more of us than than you believe.

radiology

Why aren't the best radiology departments ranked? Imaging is one the keys to the future of medicine, and you don't even rank it? Poor thought process there. This is why nobody buys into these ridiculous rankings in the first place.

where

How can we learn about the worst hospitals?

Highest Kudos for Mayo's Arizona

We have the highest praise for Mayo Hospital Phoenix/Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. After surgery in Tucson for multiple myeloma (spine) I was referred to Mayo's for an autologous (self) stem cell transplant. What a blessing! The entire team, from doctors, nurses, support staff to administrative staff was professional, effective, pleasant and communicative. They recognized the importance of attending to family caregiver needs as well at patient needs. Questions were answered, call buttons promptly responded to, personal hygiene (especially important in these cases) was attended to in an outstanding manner. Now, almost a year after the transplant, I am enjoying a great, pain free quality of life, I am back to work and just returned from a month-long overseas assignment. Should anyone from Mayo's transplant team here read this, they may remember their "transplant superstar" - that's me!

Sloan Kettering Cancer Hosp Manhattan

I thought that hospital was the best for treating cancer but found the daily care to br sub standard at best. Yhey may do alot of reserch but not the place you want to be in for your care.

bad guess made by doctor nearly killed my mother

My mother was taken to the ER on feb.the 13th she was numb and had no use of her body. she was admitted for observation. the doctor who treated her told her she had a bad virus and that her muscles just need rest another day goes by and mom was only getting worse her breathing was getting worse. my father told the doctor we wanted her transferred to another hospital so she could get help. the doctor assured my father mom was fine she just needed rest, he insisted she examine her. she came in the room and insisted my mother sit up and move her legs, she could not. the doctor then said she was being lazy and she was not going to baby her. she then checked her reflexes and when she got no response she laughed and said she just had too much fatted tissue around her knees. we had my mother transferred the next morning she was at the other hospital for 15 minutes when she was diagnosed with gilliams baree syndrome. if your not familiar with this it temporarily paralizes the person who has it and if not caught on time it could attack the respiratory system which has been fatal. it gets worse the next day we were informed she was also diagnosed with minagitis. she is coming home this friday by the grace of god but she has been in icu taking treatments then transferred to a rehabilitation hospital where she has been for nearly 5 weeks if not longer. my mother still can not walk nor hug her grandchildren. no this doctor did not cause this disease but the sad part is if caught soon enough and treated it does not always get so bad. her two weeks in icu we were praying it didn't attack her respiratory system. if she would have stayed two more days in that doctors care we could have lost my mother forever. all because she was too busy labeling her as a lazy over weight person to see the real diagnosis. a patient who needed her help.

BUSCANDO EMPLEO

Recien graduada de enfermera practica

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Respiratory Therapy

U.S. News...ranks Mayo second, based, apparently, on doctors' reports. How about asking patients?

My husband died as a result of the poor care in Mayo's respiratory unit at their St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester. I wrote a five-page single-spaced account of all the things that went wrong and sent it to the board and CEO, but I know it won't do any good.

There is no way a potential patient can REALLY know how good the service is. I'm sure the doctors are well qualified, but it's the actual service, care, and caring that matter. And you don't know that till you're there, going through surgery, and then trying to recuperate despite all the breakdowns in major organs, including the lungs, and the random viruses taking hold.

I would avoid Mayo for surgery or any type of respiratory condition.