Shands Hospital for Children at UF ranked significantly higher compared to previous years in the 2012-2013 U.S. News’ pediatric hospital rankings.
The rankings were separated into specialty programs, and seven of Shands’ pediatric programs made the list.
U.S. News recognized six pediatric programs at Shands last year and only one program in 2010, Scott Rivkees, chairman of the department of pediatrics at UF’s College of Medicine, said.
Shands ranked No. 13 for diabetes and endocrinology, No. 24 for cardiology and heart surgery and No. 26 for gastroenterology.
Those were the highest rankings in Florida.
Shands Hospital for Children has 150 beds and sees about 30,000 outpatient emergency room visits a year, Rivkees said.
U.S. News ranked Boston Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia the highest. The Boston hospital has about twice as many beds and visits, and Philadelphia has about three times as many as Shands, according to numbers from U.S. News.
Hospitals are ranked by the number of patients seen, the reputation of the institution, infection control, the nursing staff and criteria for each speciality.
“For programs that are our size, we are among the top, if not the top, program in the United States,” Rivkees said.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
