Glossary
U.S. News Score
Summarizes overall quality of inpatient care. Reputation represents two thirds of each hospital's score, mortality one sixth, and a combination of overall hospital volume, two nursing measures, and three types of advanced care one sixth. A score of 100 is assigned to the top-ranked hospital.
Reputation (%)
Percentage of pediatricians, adolescent-medicine specialists, and (starting in 2007) neonatologists responding to U.S. News surveys in 2005, 2006, and 2007 who listed the hospital as among the five best in their specialty for particularly challenging patients.
Mortality
Maximum of 6 points awarded--0, 1, or 2 points in each of three key procedures based on inpatient death rates during 2006 or the most recent 12-month period with available data. The procedures: repair of tetralogy of Fallot (a combination of four congenital heart defects), removal of a cancerous brain tumor, and bone marrow transplantation. To receive points, hospitals had to meet specific volume and mortality requirements.
Discharges (all patients)
The total number of inpatients, excluding healthy newborns but including neonatal discharges, in 2006 or the latest year for which data are available.
Nurse staffing
Indicates relative balance of nurses to inpatients; higher is better. Nurses must be on-staff RN's, not temps or workers provided by agencies. The number shown is based on full-time nurse equivalents and an adjusted daily average of inpatient volume.
Nurse Magnet hospital
A designation indicating that as of April 1, 2007, the hospital satisfied standards set by the American Nurses Credentialing Center for nursing excellence.
Advanced care
A mix of three measures--the key technologies indicated below, a palliative-care program, and FACT accreditation for cell therapy--that help define a top children's hospital.
Technology (of 5)
One point is awarded for each of five technology services available on site (half a point for a service that is off site but nearby): image-guided radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, shaped-beam radiation, positron emission tomography, and stereotactic radiosurgery.
Palliative-care program
An organized, staffed program directed at children who are terminally ill or have a condition that severely compromises their quality of life, such as chronic pain. The intent is to minimize pain and discomfort, support children and their families emotionally and spiritually, and help with financial guidance and needed social services. An active program received 1 point; a less-active program received half a point.
FACT accreditation
Indicates whether as of April 1, 2007, the hospital met standards set by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy for transplantation of cells, both from another person and from the patient, to treat cancer.
This story appears in the September 3, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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