St. Louis Children's Hospital

St. Louis Children's Hospital is a pediatric hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and is one of the premier children's hospitals in the United States. Children's Hospital is the pediatric teaching hospital for Washington University School of Medicine, ranked the 4th best medical school in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.

Patient Population
St. Louis Children's Hospital serves the health care needs of children, from infancy to adolescence, and advocates on behalf of children and families. Each year over 275,000 patients visit St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Patients have come from all 50 states and 56 countries. St. Louis Children’s Hospital has 250 licensed beds, including a 26-bed pediatric intensive care unit, a 12-bed pediatric cardiac intensive care unit, a 75-bed newborn intensive care unit and a 5-bed pediatric bone marrow transplant unit.

Services
The hospital offers comprehensive services in every pediatric medical and surgical specialty. It extends its services to children and families in the community through numerous health workshops and educational partnerships. Advocacy efforts have included programs on nutrition and fitness, childhood immunizations, injury prevention, firearm safety, car seat and helmet safety, and smoking prevention and cessation.

St. Louis Children's Hospital has the world's largest pediatric lung transplant program, and also offers transplant programs for heart, liver, kidney, lung, small intestine, and bone marrow. The hospital has performed more than 300 lung and lung-heart transplants in its history. It is one of the top pediatric transplant centers in the country.

St. Louis Children's Hospital is recognized as a pediatric burn center by the American Burn Association. It is the only children's hospital in eastern Missouri and southern Illinois to earn this designation.

The hospital's Center for Cerebral Palsy Spasticity performs more selective dorsal rhizotomy surgeries than any facility in the United States.

Research
In 2006, St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine collaborated to establish the Children's Discovery Institute with a goal of accelerating cures for childhood disease in four areas: congenital heart disease, cancer, lung and respiratory disorders, and musculoskeletal dieases.

As one of the country's top recipients in research grants, the School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics received more than $24 million for pediatric research in 2005, ranking it in the top seven in the country. When combined with grants awarded to other pediatric disciplines, grants exceeded $30 million, placing the medical school's pediatric services as a consistent leader in National Institute of Health funding.

Awards and Accomplishments
Child magazine named St. Louis Children's Hospital 7th on its 2007 list of the nation's '10 Best' pediatric hospitals. St. Louis Children's is the only hospital in Missouri, Illinois and the surrounding eight-state region to achieve this elite ranking. This marks the third consecutive time the hospital has been ranked in Child's 10 Best survey. The magazine also named Children's Hospital 2nd in pulmonary medicine, 6th in neonatology, and 8th in orthopedic care.

In 2006, U.S. News & World Report named St. Louis Children’s Hospital #14 on its list of the Best Pediatric Hospitals in America.

In October 2005, Children's Hospital received the nation’s highest honor for nursing excellence, the Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). To date, only 170 of almost 5,000 hospitals nationwide – 3 percent – have Magnet status.

History
St. Louis Children’s Hospital was founded in 1879, making it the oldest pediatric hospital west of the Mississippi River and the seventh oldest in the United States. The hospital was originally a 15-bed house with just two patients. In 1884, St. Louis Children’s Hospital moved to a 60-bed hospital, and soon added a kindergarten, nursing school, and safe milk program. The hospital moved once again in 1907, next door to the Washington University School of Medicine.

External link

 * Official site