Credit: Lobke van Aar (via Flickr)

Going straight to the emergency room seems like the most prudent thing to do in case of a health issue.  It could be bleeding during pregnancy or a tingling sensation on the right side of the body or something else.

Why do these emergency visits leave several patients with a deep sense of regret for the rest of their lives?

Studies show that hundreds of patients fall prey to wrong tests and surgeries each day at hospitals around the United States.  A surgery or tests are performed on the wrong patient due to mistaken identity or a surgery is performed on the wrong body part.

Let’s take the example of Kerry, who noticed bleeding when she was in the early months of pregnancy and arrived at an emergency room to get herself checked.  Soon after, a nurse took her for a CT scan.  Kerry was apprehensive and asked the nurse if that needs to be done, and the nurse replied that those were the doctor’s orders and a CT scan of the abdomen is needed.

After the scan, the emergency room physician along with a couple of radiologists came into the room and told her that they made a mistake.  That the CT scan was to be done on another patient with the same first name.

Although, no large studies have been done on the side effects of a CT scan on a pregnant woman, experts say that a fetus, when exposed to radiation, can sometimes develop mental and physical growth abnormalities.

Doctors also explained to Kerry that the baby could suffer mental retardation, low IQ or even growth problems because of exposure to radiation.

Wrong Surgeries Performed In Hospitals

This may sound unusual for many of you but this is certainly not a rare case.  It happens all the time at hospitals.

According to the Joint Commission accrediting the hospitals, procedures on the wrong patient, wrong side and the wrong site happen more than 40 times each week in hospitals in the United States.

Several wrong surgeries take place in the hospitals here. One such case involved a child who went in for an eye surgery and the surgeons took out the tonsils because of a confusion with another patient.  Another child underwent a cleft palate surgery on the wrong side of the mouth. Yet another patient who went in for neurosurgery had holes drilled on the wrong side of the head.  Towards controlling this menace, state regulators in some states brought out a rule that video cameras be installed in all operating rooms at the hospital.

Does This Make The Hospitals Bad?

While experts are of the opinion that such errors don’t make the hospital bad and people continue to flock there for surgeries; from the common man’s perspective, it can be quite scary.

Kerry says that doctors were very nice and apologetic after the incident. The pregnant emergency room doctor cried and apologized to her and her husband. They even asked what flowers she liked and offered free hospital cafeteria coupons.  It is all understandable and the doctors may even be forgiven, until something goes drastically wrong.

Kerry’s baby, at 3 months of age, had a head circumference in the 73^rd percentile, and at 1 year, it was in the fifth percentile. If the percentile does not say in the same range, it is considered to be a bad thing for the child’s growth.

A crying Kerry said that she expected doctors to know what they were doing and that she didn’t know anything.

Keeping Yourself Safe From Hospital Mistakes

But not knowing anything cannot be an excuse any longer, because ultimately it is the patients who suffer throughout their lives. This gives us all the more reason to be better informed and knowledgeable about hospital procedures and not to think that doctors can do no wrong.  It is our bodies and our lives after all!

Patient empowerment is very important and is a step forward to ensure things don’t go wrong.

Here are some tips given by experts to keep yourself from falling victim:

Give Your Name, DOB and Surgery - Give your name, date of birth and the surgery you are there in the hospital for, to every doctor, technician or nurse who takes care of you, even when you enter the surgery room.

Get Them To Check Your ID – You must understand the hospital staff have to confirm the patient’s identity in at least two ways.  One is to check your ID and the other is to ask for your name and date of birth. Insist on them checking your ID bracelet.

Find Out What Procedure You Are Having And On Which Side? – Even if you are in the hospital for a right eye surgery and the nurse confirms that, you must remember that the nurse will not go into the operation theater with you. Insist on confirming the procedure and the side of the body before they give you anesthesia and cut the wrong part.

Marking The Surgical Site - Many hospitals have implemented the method of asking their patients to mark the site where they would be having the surgery. You can insist on marking the surgical site with the surgeon present in the operating room and not just in front of the nurse or someone else.

Be Very Clear About Your Personal Details – Many a time, patients tend to keep quiet even if the nurse or doctor pronounce the name wrong or give a wrong last name, thinking that they just made a mistake.  You cannot afford to do that.  Correct them immediately and make sure they correct it in the chart, if it’s written wrong.

The general attitude of people is that getting to a hospital is their sole responsibility as doctors take care of the rest. This is just not the case and you will have to keep your eyes and ears open at all times during your hospital stay; especially when you’re undergoing a surgery or some diagnostic tests.

Being aware that hospitals do go wrong and surgeons do make huge “irreparable” mistakes can help you avoid becoming one of the victims of hospital mistakes.

How does it feel when traveling to a far away place where we know nobody and don’t even know the language? It can be quite unnerving.  It is the same with a hospital visit.  Health problems are bound to arise at some point or other and getting admitted in a hospital can be a scary prospect.

In such a scenario, the nurses who clean, feed and take care of other necessities, and the friendly doctors become our guides and friends.  Patients tend to share things with them and start trusting them.

You would be shocked to learn that as many as 98,000 people die in hospitals in the United States each year, only due to medical errors. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that about 99,000 people die from hospital acquired infections each year.

Patient vigilance is the key to come out safe from a hospital stay.  According to the president of the mid-Maryland chapter of the Emergency Nurses Association, Cindy Sellers O’Brien, “The patients that do better are the ones that take an active role in their health care.  They have the better outcomes [because] they take more ownership.”

The American Hospital Association says that patients play a very important role.  They say, “While we are striving for perfection in the way we deliver care, we know we fall short of that mark – but patients can help us get better. They can – and should – ask questions when something does not seem quite right.”

The medical errors caused by hospitals prove to be most dangerous for children. Figures show that one in 15 children that are hospitalized end up being victims of medication errors. Parents need to watch over their child’s hospital care to ensure no mistakes are made.

With so many dangers in the hospitals, how do you protect yourself and your family?

Here are a few tips given by the nurses who work in the hospitals:

Keep The List Of Medications Being Taken

This is said to be crucial when visiting a hospital.  You should always keep a list of medications being taken by each family member at all times and update it as required.  This list has to be taken to the hospital when you are going to the emergency room or being admitted in the hospital.  The best thing is to have this list ready in the wallet at all times. It helps even if you fall somewhere and someone has to take you to the ER.

Make Sure Your Name Is Right

Ensuring that the hospital gets your name right is critical to getting appropriate treatment.  This is important not only when a surgery is being performed but also when the patient is given medications or blood.  Imagine being given the wrong type of blood just because of mistaken identity.

Check On Every Medication You Are Given

You will need to double check the name of the medication, the dosage and the timing when the medicine is given to you.  I know many of you feel that they cannot interfere with such things, but it has to be done if you want to be safe.  There have been many cases where patients were given medicines they were allergic to, which can result in a fatal outcome.

Ensure Everyone Washes Their Hands

If you think every nurse and every doctor does this, then you are mistaken.  Even in the major hospitals, these things are not followed at times.  Hand washing lapses happen all the time and as you know doctors and nurses pick up nasty germs that are transmitted to other patients.

Yes, this can be an uncomfortable situation where you may worry about spoiling the relationship with your doctor or the nurse, but it needs to be done diplomatically.  You can say how you have had a bad experience with doctors not washing their hands and that you are paranoid about it.  But remember, above everything else, you have a right to make sure they did wash their hands.

If You Sense Something Wrong, Speak Out

For example, if there is a medication written on the chart that you know could harm you or your family member who is the patient, make sure to let them know and remove that. Do not ever keep quiet if you think something is wrong. In doing so, you really don’t have to be mean and accusing, but be confident and convincing.

Just because a hospital looks clean and nice doesn’t mean it is. Just because doctors and nurses look professional doesn’t mean they are. Over the years, little progress has been made implementing key measures for the safety of patients.  That’s why patients, their family members and friends need to be watchful at all times.

Patient vigilance plays a crucial role in ensuring your safety.  You should keep your eyes and ears open at all times and never have the attitude that the doctors and nurses know everything. Yes, they do know everything, but they can be careless or simply make a mistake.  While it may be a small mistake for them, it could lead to dangerous consequences for you or your family.

Credit: Sebsational (via Flickr)

The kids step back into a high lunge and kick back their legs straight and hold that push up for 10 seconds. Then they close one nostril and inhale through the other repeating this with both the nostrils.  They meditate and chant, and finally, they lie down quietly on their mats for a few seconds.

These kids are doing Yoga!  Once accessible only to the privileged kids, now even the poor kids who speak other languages are being taught Yoga in studios from Minnesota to Russia. Most of these kids are first and second graders and are “little” expert yogis.

Latest research revealed that the younger children of today suffer from increased stress, with only a few stress-handling programs available to help them deal with this. This is where yoga helps to a great extent.

It has long been established that yoga has the power to channel children’s energy in the right direction. The aim of Yoga is to teach them self-control and relaxation through breathing exercises, meditation and physical postures.

It has been proved through studies that yoga increases emotional balance in the long-term in children and reduces all sorts of fears.  Even feelings of aggression and helplessness are dramatically reduced.

Credit: tnkfichter06 (via Flickr)

The best thing about conducting these yoga classes in schools is that children can transfer what they learn to situations beyond school, in order to relax after school and to control any negative feelings. This makes yoga a perfectly independent control method for children.

In spite of all these benefits of yoga, it is still not free of controversy in the United States.  In the recent years, there has been a Baptist minister that complained of a public school teaching a form of Hinduisim – when all the school was doing is teach yoga to its students.  In Aspen, Christian fundamentalists and some parents complained to the school board, and argued that yoga’s Hindu roots conflict with Christian teachings.  These people portrayed yoga as a new-age nut used to brainwash young minds.

This led to the birth of a reformed yoga, named “Yoga Ed,” in which there is no chanting as is done in yoga normally.  Even the language used is beautifully sounding kid-friendly English instead of Sanskrit. The panting of yoga has transformed into “bunny breathing,” and meditation is now “time-in.” This American yoga form is stripped of everything that could even vaguely be construed as religious or spiritual.  At least 150 schools in the US adopted this yoga program with more than 300 physical education instructors trained to teach their students. Numerous other private and public schools also teach yoga today in the different States.

Teachers vouch by yoga and say they have noticed that it also has a calming effect on kids with Attention-deficit disorder (ADD) as well as proving to be highly beneficial in childhood obesity.  A lot less behavioral problems are seen in students who take yoga classes.

In a study conducted on several school children, researchers found a strong correlation between better grades and behavior and yoga. These young “yogis” have been reported to be much more fit than the California Physical Fitness Test.

Americans have realized the benefits of yoga and they spend billions of dollars on yoga classes, books, mats, DVDs and other related items.

However, concerns about yoga’s spiritual implications continue to pop up, with the main concern being that it goads young children into exploring religions other than Christianity.

According to the author of “Yoga and the Body of Christ,” “Yoga is a religious practice in Hinduism.  It’s the way to reach enlightenment.  To bring it to the west and bill it as a scientific practice for fitness is dishonest.”  He said, “I’ve talked to too many people who got hooked on the spiritual deception of yoga.  They come to believe in this and become enamored with Hinduism or eastern mysticism.”

These arguments confuse some practicing yogis in the West, who say that yoga is practiced in the United States as a way of fitness of the body and stress relief, and has nothing to do with religion or spiritualism.

In spite of a section of society lobbying against yoga, it continues to be taught to children between 5 and 12 years in hundreds of schools, with excellent results. Have you joined your kid in yoga?

A trend for specialization has seen an increase in healthcare facilities all over the world. A healthcare facility can be anything from a simple medical clinic to a large multispecialty hospital. A good hospital is one that has specialized staff and equipment, the latest technology, research facilities, conducts clinical trials and strives towards improving patient care.

With the thousands of hospitals out there, deciding where to get treatment is a daunting task. However, hospital popularity among patients goes a long way in determining which hospital is good and what each hospital specializes in.

Consistency being the key; hospitals with consistent great performance are considered to be the best. Hospitals that belong to this cadre not only recruit the most qualified physicians and nursing care, but also strive to provide specialized services to patients.

There are several such health facilities in the United States that provide specialized services to their patients. Here we look at a few top hospitals that have good reviews from the patients as well as from various hospital surveys done. They top the charts of the healthcare providers.

1:- The Johns Hopkins Hospital

A teaching hospital situated in Baltimore, Maryland, The Johns Hopkins Hospital is considered to be one of the best hospitals in the world. It has been topping the charts at No. 1 in the U.S. News and World Report for 18 years consecutively.

Inception

This hospital was founded in the year 1889, in the name of Johns Hopkins, who was a banker and merchant in Baltimore. He left several million dollars and asked for this money to be used in the creation of two institutions under his name. Thus came into being, “The Johns Hopkins Hospital” and “The Johns Hopkins University.”

Johns Hopkins Hospital Institutions:

• The Brady Urological Institute
• The Wilmer Eye Institute
• The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
• The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center

Specialties

The hospital has been ranked high for the following specialties:

• Rheumatology
• Urology
• Otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat)
• Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Psychiatry
• Gynecology
• Ophthalmology
• Geriatrics

The above specialties are ranked high; however, their services extend to several other branches, such as respiratory disorders, digestive disorders, endocrinology, oncology, heart and heart surgery, orthopedics, general pediatrics and kidney diseases. They have a rehabilitation section as well.

Johns Hopkins has several achievements to its credit

• Their discovery of “restriction enzymes” won the Nobel Prize and paved way to genetic engineering industry.
• They have the distinction of discovering the brain’s natural opiates, which led to an understanding of the neurotransmitter pathways and functions.
• This hospital has identified three different types of polio virus.
• Modern heart surgery underwent a dramatic leap with the first “blue baby” operation conducted at this hospital.
• Awarded the prestigious Magnet Recognition status for excellence in nursing by the The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).

Melanoma Program

Johns Hopkins performs various kinds of surgeries, and the hospital’s melanoma program includes plastic surgery and reconstruction of complicated sites such as the external ear, nose and eye lid, is being successfully performed over the past two decades.

Recognition

The Johns Hopkins Hospital has earned the honor of being ranked No.1 in three specialties; Ear, nose and throat, rheumatology and urology; No.2 in geriatrics, neurology and neurosurgery, gynecology and obstetrics, psychiatry and ophthalmology; No.3 in cancer, endocrinology, digestive diseases, heart disease and heart surgery and respiratory disorders.

It is no mean feat to obtain high rankings in so many specialties, out of thousands of hospitals in the United States.

2:- M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Compassion along with innovative cancer care, cancer research, research-based prevention of all types of cancers, both rare and common, aimed for both pediatric and adult cancer patients, makes M.D. Anderson Cancer Center one of the best cancer care centers in the world. Ranked as No.1 in cancer care, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is a system of hospitals and an academic institution in Houston, Texas.

Inception

It was established by the National Cancer Act in 1971, as part of three other cancer centers.

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center takes its name after Monroe Dunaway Anderson, who was a cotton trader and banker from Jackson, Tennessee. It is interesting to note the reason this cancer center was created. Anderson and Will Clayton were business partners and they decided that if one of them dies, they would have to pay a lot of money towards estate tax. In order to avoid paying this tax, the M.D. Anderson Foundation was created by Dunaway Anderson.

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is totally devoted to the treatment and prevention of cancer. They have the largest research program in the entire United States, with 11,000 patients taking part in their clinical trials at one point of time.

Support Programs

They have several support programs to help patients feel better and get over the emotional obstacles:

• Support groups for survivors, cancer patients and caregivers.
• Travel nurse support and care;
• Individual one-on-one support for patients.
• Educational materials as well as classes for patients and caregivers.
• Online support through forums to help share experiences with other cancer patients.
• M.D. Anderson Chaplains are available at all times to provide spiritual support and guidance.
• Several patient stories to read, that talk of people who have survived cancer.

Recognition

• The Magnet Nursing recognition awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Patient care at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is great and international patients are given every possible help to ensure a happy stay at the hospital.

The number of adults and children that take treatment from this cancer center every year is proof of its immense popularity, which is totally based on the invaluable treatment it provides.

3:- Mayo Clinic, Rochester

Rochester based Mayo Clinic is a non-profit and one of the top healthcare facilities in Northern America, founded by Dr. William Worrall Mayo and his two sons, Charles Horace Mayo and William James Mayo. Dr. Worrall Mayo originally belongs to the United Kingdom, but emigrated to the United States in 1846 to become a doctor.

It has several clinics and hospitals in Arizona, Scottsdale, Jacksonville and Florida. The Rochester facility hosts the Mayo Medical School and their research department. It is also in partnership with smaller other clinics in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Specialties
Mayo Clinic provides treatment in several areas and is forefront in the following specialties, among several others:

• Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Cardiology
• Cancer
• Transplantation

Transplantation Program

The Mayo Clinic’s transplantation program is one of the best in the United States and offers the following:

Bone Marrow Transplant: The three types of transplants: allogenic, autologous and syngeneic are performed.

Heart Transplant: Heart, lung and heart-lung transplants, and also the use of ventricular assist devices for adults, children and infants are performed.

Kidney Transplant: This program is one of the most innovative and the largest in the United States, and more than 40 kidney transplants are performed each year. The outcome of the Mayo Clinic kidney transplant is also known to be one of the best in the world. This hospital focuses on living donor transplants and provides both positive crossmatch and ABO incompatible transplants.

Liver Transplant: Mayo Clinic is a leading healthcare center for patients with liver and bile duct tumors. They have performed more than 2000 transplants and with the highest survival rates. The programs include living donor liver transplant and split-liver transplant.

Lung Transplant: Lung transplant is offered at Jacksonville and Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Pancreas Transplant: More than 300 transplants have taken place at Rochester. They perform solitary pancreas transplants, combined kidney-pancreas transplant and Mayo Clinic has recently obtained FDA approval to perform the unique islet transplant at Rochester.

Recognition

Ranked as one of the best hospitals in America for the 19th consecutive year by U.S. News and World Report. For the year 2008, it was ranked as the No.1 in the field of Neurology and Neurosurgery.

4:- Ronald Reagen UCLA Medical Center

Located on the campus of the University of California in Los Angeles, the Ronald Reagen UCLA Medical Center is a technologically advanced hospital that ranked among the top hospitals on the West Coast. This center has several research centers that cover all the major specialties, including optometry and dentistry. It is designed in such a way that natural light is maximized to assist healing.

This teaching hospital’s emergency department has been certified as level I trauma center for pediatrics and adults.

The hospital encompasses:

• The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
• Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital
• Mattel Children’s Hospital

Each hospital has a separate entrance that makes it very convenient for the patients.

It has been ranked high for the following specialties:

• Cancer
• Gynecology
• Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Orthopedics
• Urology

Interventional Surgery

The second floor of the hospital is completely dedicated to interventional procedures. Their surgical suite is the largest that has ever been built as of date. The latest audio-visual communication devices assist surgeons in accessing data locally as well as globally.

The cardiac suite will help adult patients with vascular and coronary artery diseases, with the latest angioplasties and plastic restorative surgical techniques. Children with congenital heart disease can undergo minimally invasive procedures. Therapy is said to be delivered most accurately and with minimum amount of risk with the help of magnetic catheter guidance devices in UCLA.

Recognition

• Nobel Prize for the discovery of one of the signaling molecules in the body, which is nitric oxide has been won by Louis Ignarro, a pharmacologist at UCLA. This was a very important discovery that revolutionalized the immunology and cardiopulmonary fields.

• Ranked No.1 for Neurology and Neurosurgery and No. 3 in the best hospital category in the western United States consecutively in a row by the U.S. News & World Report.

The Ronald Reagen UCLA Medical Center is known to provide a high level of care to its patients with advanced technology and is considered to be one of the nation’s best hospitals.

5:- Cleveland Clinic

One of the largest private medical centers in the world, Cleveland Clinic is located in Cleveland, Ohio and was founded in 1921 by four physicians from Cleveland. Three of these physicians were surgeons who worked in the army medical unit during World War I.

This is a multispecialty education medical center, which focuses on patient care, research and medical education. Their medical education program is the third largest in the nation.

Research

Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute has the distinction of being the fifth largest research center in the nation and their expenditure towards research is said to be more than $220 million.

Ranking

• Ranked in the four top hospitals in the United States in the year 2007.
• Ranked No. 1 in the United States for cardiac care, for 13 consecutive years.
• Ranked among the top two, for gastroenterology services and urology. Their Glickman urological Institute has the largest full-time faculty for urology in America.

Recognition

The Cleveland Clinic has several medical firsts to its credit. Some of them are:

• First coronary bypass surgery
• First coronary angiography
• First minimally invasive aortic valve surgery
• First larynx transplant that was successful
• First mitral valve repaid and also Maze procedure at the same time

Cleveland Clinic is in the process of constructing a state-of-the-art heart center for its heart program. Its expansion and technology advancement program is ongoing, to cater to the ever-growing patients.

6:- Massachusetts General Hospital

Founded in 1811 with the intention to care for the poor, the Massachusetts General Hospital or MGH is a cancer treatment and research healthcare facility in Boston, Massachusetts. It is a teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School.

This hospital is one of the oldest general hospitals in the United States as well as being the oldest and largest in New England. More than 45000 patients are admitted, over 34000 surgeries are performed and over 1 million outpatients are treated each year.

Specialties at MGH

MGH has many specialties, some of them are:

• Psychiatry
• Cancer
• Endocrinology
• Neurology & Neurosurgery
• Respiratory Disorders
• Orthopedics
• Gastrointestinal Disorders
• Geriatric Care
• Heart & Heart Surgery

MGH has more than 20 specialty branches which cater to specialized patient care of both adults and children.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are a continuous process and they test several types of treatments, new vaccines, new drugs and new surgical and radiation approaches, new combinations of treatments etc.

There is a lot going on in new fields of gene therapy, angiogenesis and clinical genetics as well. These trials focus on all types of cancer that the hospital has ever seen. While previously, these clinical trials were used by some cancer patients as a last resort, things are very different today with patients even seeking treatment in the early stages through these trials.

Recognition

MGH was given the award of being the first Magnet hospital in the state, by the American Nurses Association. This award is the highest for excellence in nursing.

7:- Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston

The largest hospital of Longwood Medical and Academic area in Boston and the second largest teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is an educational hospital.

This research hospital, along with Massachusetts General Hospital, is one of the two founders of Partners HealthCare, which is the largest healthcare provider in Massachusetts.

The hospital’s top specialties among many are:

• Obstetrics & Gynecology
• Cancer
• Cardiovascular
• Neurosciences
• Orthopedics

• Renal and several others

Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s centers of excellence include:

• Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center
• Shapiro Cardiovascular Center
• The Neurosciences Institute
• The Orthopedic and Arthritis Center
• The Mary Horrigan Connors Center for Women’s Health

This hospital has several achievements to its credit:

• The first administration of anesthesia during childbirth.
• The first successful heart valve surgery in the world performed on a 12-year-old girl.
• Discovery that liver extracts can cure pernicious anemia, which was a fatal illness at that time. The doctors received a Nobel Prize for this.
• Steroid cortisone administered for the first time to cure rheumatoid arthritis.
• Doctors found a way to collect, store and transfuse blood and developed the world’s first blood bank.
• The first successful human kidney transplant, taken from a twin brother, which won them a Nobel Prize.
• Restoration of normal rhythm of the heart in atrial fibrillation done for the first time using DC cardioversion.
• The world’s first intra-operative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system for neurosurgery.

Recognition

• BWH stands eighth in the ranking brought out by the U.S. News & World Report, for America’s best hospitals. It has the distinction of earning a place on this prestigious list for 16 consecutive years.
• The University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) has awarded the recognition of “top performer” for quality as well as accountability, for three years in a row.
• Named by Leapfrog Group as the best hospital.
• Won the National Healthcare Award.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s ongoing efforts for patient care are admirable. This hospital is in complete compliance with all standards set by the Joint Commission.

8:- Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami

Recognized all over the world as the best eye institute, the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, which serves as the ophthalmology department for the University of Miami is a leader in ophthalmic care, research and ophthalmic education. Their care encompasses every aspect of ophthalmic subspecialty possible, including the very rare eye tumors.

Bascom Palmer was founded in 1962 and has come a long way in offering revolutionary ophthalmic treatments. Each and every physician at the hospital specializes in at least one area of care and more than half of their faculty members have gone into the medical referral book named, “Best Doctors in America.”

Bascom Palmer Eye Institute has been in the forefront of many new happenings in the field of ophthalmology:

• The first successful vitreous surgery as well as invention of a miniature surgical instrument used for this surgery.
• Identification of the herpes virus as the cause of Acute Retinal Necrosis.
• Introduction of limbal cell transplantation therapy which can prevent corneal scarring, that is potentially blinding.
• Development of an effective treatment for retinopathy of prematurity afflicting premature infants, which is a blinding condition.

Bascom Palmer’s research areas include:

• Phyto-dynamic therapy for treating age-related macular degeneration (wet form) is being currently tested.
• Molecular genetics advanced techniques, to help improve the diagnosis of macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.
• Research in finding out more about normal tension glaucoma, where damage of the optic nerve occurs even with the intraocular pressure being normal.
• Trying to understand cytomegalovirus retinitis, the common cause of blindness in patients with AIDS.
• New treatments being researched for retinal detachments, which is the major side effect of diabetes.
• Researching on non-toxic treatment for ocular cancer. This treatment includes local hyperthermia, which has the potential to kill cancer cells without causing any damage to the retina.

Recognition

• Bascom Palmer Eye Institute is rated as one of the best ophthalmic hospitals in the nation by board-certified ophthalmologists across the United States.
• It has been ranked as the No. 1 eye hospital in the nation by the U.S. News & World Report.
• The Ophthalmology Times’ survey rated Bascom Palmer’s residency program as the best in the nation.

Bascom Palmer Eye Institute continues with its tradition of excellence with the commitment of treasuring the gift of sight. It has earned recognition as an outstanding patient care, research and teaching facility.

9:- Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS)

The Hospital for Special Surgery founded in 1863 by Dr. James Knight, is located in the city of New York and is the oldest orthopedic hospital in the nation. This specialty hospital, which is a member of the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System, provides orthopedics and rheumatology and is famous for its musculoskeletal medicine services. They have huge research facilities that focus on autoimmune and musculoskeletal diseases.

HSS is considered to be the best in the United States for joint replacement.

This 140-bed hospital has the following specialized centers:

• Osteoporosis Prevention Center
• Women’s Sports Medicine Center
• Institute for Cartilage Repair
• The Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Diseases

Procedures performed at HSS:

The orthopedic surgeons at HSS have subspecialty training and focus on various areas. While the spine surgery surgeons focus on congenital or acute spinal disorders and chronic back pain, the sports medicine surgeons focus on athletic injuries of the musculoskeletal system. They specialize in shoulder, elbow and knee injuries. Limb lengthening procedures are also performed at HSS.

Clinical Trials

HSS focuses its research on various aspects of diagnosis and treatment. Their clinical trials focus on lupus and arthritis currently. The research at the hospital aims at addressing problems such as injury, arthritis, scoliosis, osteoporosis, lupus and autoimmune diseases, as well as all related musculoskeletal diseases that affect adults and children.

Recognition

• Ranked No.1 in orthopedics and No.3 for rheumatology nationally by U.S. News & World Report.
• Hospital for Special Surgery been hailed as being innovative in the field of knee replacement. It has pioneered this and has perfected the procedure to help speed up recovery time, thus reducing the hospital stay for patients.

HSS has performed the largest number of knee replacements in the United States and successfully.

10:- National Jewish Health

National Jewish Health is considered to be the best hospitals for the treatment of respiratory, allergic and immune disorders. It is located in Denver, Colorado and has the distinction of being the best medical treatment and research centers in the world.

Founded in 1899 by two people, Frances Wisebart Jacobs and William Sterne Friedman, with the objective of treating tuberculosis, because of lack of TB hospitals in those days. They collected money for land and building and the hospital was completed in 1893 and since a Jewish organization raised the funds annually for its operations, it was named National Jewish Health. Later as it grew, it introduced other specialties.

National Jewish Health treats several disorders, some of their specialties include:

• Allergies
• Asthma
• Eczema (Atomic Dermatitis)
• Autoimmune Diseases
• Emphysema
• COPD
• Interstitial lung disease
• Sleep disorder
• Tuberculosis and several others

Clinical Research

National Jewish Health is a leader in clinical research and treatment. There have been several new and improved treatments discovered for respiratory disorders. This hospital has been instrumental in bringing to people, drugs such as Advair, Claritin and Xolair.

Recognition

• Ranked No.1 respiratory hospital in the nation for eleven consecutive years by the U.S. News & World Report.
• Rated as one of the world’s top ten biomedical research centers.
• The Scientist magazine gave credit to this hospital and named it the second best place in the United States for “postdocs” to work.

National Jewish Health aims to be in the forefront of a new era of medicine. Their priority is patient care and their commitment to perform research and treat diseases will benefit patients the world over.

Healthcare industry has advanced in leaps and bounds over the years. These hospitals that list top on the charts are proof of the effort they put into being in the forefront of this advancement and improving the quality of patient care, by finding new techniques and drugs to treat patients.