The University of Florida’s own UF Health Shands Hospital is immunized to sub-par performance. For the second year running, Shands has ranked on U.S. News and World Report’s famous list of the finest hospitals in the nation. Previously, in 2021, UF Health ranked among the country’s top hospitals in six different medical specialties, including cardiology & heart surgery and gynecology. But this trend of prophylactic excellence has continued well into the summer of 2022 with a whopping 10 of Shands’ specialty programs now ranking in the same nationwide list.
In short, this means Shands patients can rest at ease in the care of their medical professionals. But here is a little more detail on how the national rankings work, what they mean in the medical world, and how Shands has invested its restorative powers in the greater Gainesville area.
Making the nationals
Life-threatening illnesses rarely wait for sluggish hospital hunting. This is why, for 30+ years, U.S. News has compiled and ranked medical centers for placement on its prestigious list of the best hospitals nationwide. The list has counseled vast numbers of patients in their search for ideal hospital care by location, acting for many as an early signpost in the trek through life’s most harrowing health-related obstacles.
This ranking system is an in-depth examination of not just individual hospitals as a whole but specialty services within specific hospitals. Five of Shands’ adult specialty departments ranked in the nation’s top 50:
- Orthopedics (26th)
- Ear, nose and throat (40th)
- Geriatrics (45th)
- Pulmonology and lung surgery (48th)
- Urology (48th)
As for pediatrics, Shands made the list for these departments:
- Pediatric pulmonology (18th)
- Neurology and neurosurgery (34th)
- Diabetes and endocrinology (13th)
- Cardiology and heart surgery (26th)
- Cancer (49th)
Gainesville’s foremost clinic
For UF Health Shands Hospital to score in the upper echelon of the U.S. News list is saying something indeed – and to do it two years running testifies to Gainesvillian excellence. And outside the rankings, three of Shands’ specialty departments were rated by the same source as being “high performing.” Specifically, these disciplines are cardiology and heart surgery, gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery, and neurology/neurosurgery, with said specialties in the top 10% of all U.S. hospitals.
Moreover, an additional 15 of Shands’ specialties were rated as high performers in the “procedures and conditions” segment of the rankings. And on a more local scale, Shands’ pediatrics programs in cancer, cardiology, diabetes and pulmonology are the highest ranked children’s programs in Florida State.
According to David Nelson, M.D., President of UF Health, “This ranking is a reflection of the culture of compassion and commitment to excellence that pervades everything we do. I’m proud of everyone on our team who contributes to making UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital the best in Florida.”
By Drew Mortier