Spotlight on patient care

Spotlight on patient care

A destination for great care

Shands at UF and Shands Hospital for Children at UF recently were recognized among the nation’s best in fourteen medical specialties in the 2012-13 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals and Best Children’s Hospitals rankings. Three of the interdisciplinary UF and Shands pediatric programs were ranked highest in the state — diabetes and endocrinology (13th nationally), cardiology and heart surgery (25th nationally) and gastroenterology (27th nationally). Shands Hospital for Children also ranked 27th in nephrology, 32nd in pulmonology, 37th in neonatology and 49th in neurology and neurosurgery. Shands at UF was recognized as one of the top hospitals in the state and had the state’s highest ranking in neurology and neurosurgery (32nd nationally). The medical center’s highest ranking came in urology (20th nationally). Other specialty programs that received national recognition include: pulmonology (31st), cancer (36th), nephrology (37th), gastroenterology (41st), and cardiology and heart surgery (47th).

 

Best for baby

The Center for Breastfeeding and Newborns at Shands Hospital for Children at UF was recently selected to participate in the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality Best Fed Beginnings Program along with 89 other children’s hospitals around the country. NICHQ, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will lead a nationwide effort in close partnership with Baby-Friendly USA to help hospitals improve maternity care and increase the number of Baby-Friendly hospitals in the United States. Shands Hospital for Children will participate in a 22-month learning collaborative to make system-level changes to maternity care practices in pursuit of the Baby-Friendly designation. “New parents are profoundly impacted by hospital practices in the first hours of their baby’s life, and our staff wants to provide the care they know to be evidence-based, safe and of the highest quality,” said Mary Ryngaert, A.R.N.P., I.B.C.L.C., a registered nurse-practitioner at the Center for Breastfeeding and Newborns. “Everyone is very excited about this selection.”