UW Medical Center ranks among top 20 in seven specialties

UW Medical Center is ranked among the top hospitals in the country in a number of specialties, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 1999 annual guide to “America’s Best Hospitals,” available on newsstands last week.

UW Medical Center was ranked among the top 20 hospitals nationwide in seven of the 16 specialties considered: rehabilitation 2nd in the nation; cancer 5th; orthopedics 7th; otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) 12th; cardiology and heart surgery 14th; psychiatry 17th; and urology 20th. Gynecology was ranked 35th. Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, closely affiliated with the UW School of Medicine, was ranked 14th in pediatrics.

The rankings evaluate the nation’s 188 top “tertiary-care” hospitals — major medical centers, usually with a teaching mandate, that provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art care. UW Medical Center has been consistently ranked among the top hospitals nationally by U.S. News since 1993.

“This breadth of recognition — unique in the Northwest — attests to the exceptional commitment to high-quality care that exists at University of Washington Medical Center,” said Dr. Paul G. Ramsey, UW vice president for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. “I am very proud of the outstanding patient care provided by our faculty and staff at UW Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center.”

For 12 of the 16 specialties ranked, U.S. News, in conjunction with the National Opinion Research Center, evaluated hospitals using a mathematical model combining reputation among board-certified specialists, death rate statistics, and other medical data such as the various medical technologies available.

In the other four specialties — ophthalmology, pediatrics, psychiatry and rehabilitation — rankings were based on a reputational survey of physicians.

The U.S. News rankings are the latest in a series of honors given recently at UW affiliated hospitals.

Last year, UW physicians — practicing at UW Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center — were listed 224 times in The Best Doctors in America, a nationwide survey compiled by Woodward/White, Inc. of Aitken, S.C.

Also last year, UW Medical Center received recertification as a “Magnet Hospital” by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for its excellence in nursing service. It was the first hospital in the nation to achieve magnet status five years ago. The magnet award recognizes institutions that provide top-quality nursing care for patients.

The UW School of Medicine also consistently achieves top rankings in U.S. News surveys. Earlier this year, it was named the number-one primary-care medical school in the country, and was ranked ninth overall. ¶

Laurie McHale