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Mission News
Mission Named Top 50 In Orthopedics By U.S. News & World Report07/06/2006
The Orthopedics Service Line of Mission Hospital has just been ranked by U.S.News & World Report magazine as one of the nation's top 50 Hospitals in that specialty.
Mission and Duke are the only two hospitals in North Carolina to receive that ranking, and we share it with hospitals like Mayo Clinic, Mass General, Johns Hopkins and the Cleveland Clinic.
The ratings, which were announced July 7, 2006, are based on hard data such as mortality rates, number of Medicare discharges, complexity of procedures, ratio of nurses to patients, technology such as MRI and PET, and the quality of care, such as nursing and patient services. The ranking also noted factors such as being a trauma center and being a Nurse Magnet hospital.
This is the second time that Mission has won a top 50 ranking from U.S.News & World Report. We were named a Top 50 Heart Hospital in 2003. It's a tremendous honor in any category; this year, the magazine considered 5,189 hospitals. Only 3 percent of them, 176 in all, are ranked in one or more of the 16 specialties in this year's 'America's Best Hospitals.'
In interviews July 7th with the news media, both our orthopedic surgeons and orthopedic nursing leadership agreed on the single factor that is most important to our excellence: teamwork.
'It requires a whole lot of people getting up early and working hard over many years to achieve this level of quality,' said Orthopedic Surgeon Paul Saenger, MD.
'What distinguishes our program is the quality of the surgeons, the nurses and the staff,' said Orthopedic Surgeon Stephen David, MD. 'We also have tremendous volume and excellent technology - cutting edge. We're number 35 in the nation today - and working our way up!'
'This region - this city - is growing in size and complexity,' said Dr. David. 'The hospital is committed to keeping up with the technology and services needed across ALL areas of care.'
Orthopedic surgeon Joseph Dement, MD, correlated our ranking with good patient outcomes, such as quicker recoveries and fewer complications. 'We're looking for ways to improve,' he said, 'even though we're doing mighty well as it is.'
Rhonda Robinson, RN, Nursing Unit Director for Orthopedics on the St. Joseph Campus, emphasized the importance of teamwork among nurses, therapists and physicians in achieving excellence. For example, administration of pain medication is carefully timed to ensure that patients have the most relief just at the time that physical therapists begin the painful but necessary post-op therapy that will lead to recovery.
'It's an exceptional group,' she said. 'The teamwork makes it.'
So does love of the specialty.
'If you're there, it's because you love ortho,' she said. 'It's demanding. It's more physical than some areas. It's fast paced - hustle is a word I often use.
'In some ways we see patients at their worst: Bone pain hurts. They are dependent on us for everything after their surgery, and it's hard to be at somebody's mercy. But in ortho you can see the difference you've made, see the progress your patients are making. That's the best thing. When they leave us, they're on the road to a better life.'
Copies of the special hospitals issue should still be on the newsstand Friday, July 14. For complete information, you can also visit the U.S.News & World Report website.
The doctors and hospitals that have the best results in surgical procedures are the ones that do the highest numbers of them.
From June 2005 to May 2006, Mission performed:
*8,519 total orthopedic surgeries
*1,378 spine surgeries
*7,141 other orthopedic surgeries
