Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital

Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital is a 244-bed children's hospital located in Cleveland, Ohio. It is a part of University Hospitals Case Medical Center, formerly University Hospitals of Cleveland. It is consistently ranked as one of the top three pediatric hospital in the Midwest and a top 10 children's hospital by U.S. News & World Report.^[1] In 2008, Rainbow ranked #2 in the country for neonatal care.^[2]

Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital is over 120 years old, and has over 850 physicians, nurses, child life specialists, social workers, and other professionals dedicated to the unique care of children. Rainbow is a world leader in the treatment of children with cancer, heart disease, cystic fibrosis and pulmonary specialties, sickle cell disease, kidney disease, immunology and endocrine and metabolic disorders. Its neonatologists specialize in in the treatment of high-risk and premature newborns. As an academic medical center, the primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University, Rainbow offers children emerging therapies before they become widely available.^[3]

Rankings

2009 US News and World Report National Rankings'^[4]

• Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, is ranked #2 nationally for Neonatal Care by U.S. News & World Report.^[5].
• In biomedical research, Case Medical Center ranks among top 15 centers in the United States with approximately $75 million in annual extramural research funding and a further $10 million in various clinical trials.
• University Hospitals of Cleveland also includes MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and Ireland Cancer Center, which holds the nation's highest designation by the National Cancer Institute of Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Clinical trials

Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital regularly conducts clinical trials to continue to improve upon existing treatments and therapies and discover new breakthroughs in the treatment of pediatric health disorders including pediatric oncology, depression and lupus.

NICU

Rainbow's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) cares for more than 1,300 premature and critically ill babies each year. It serves a 12-county area in Northeast Ohio with a pediatric population of nearly one million. The National Institutes of Health have designated it as a level III Neonatal Research Center – the highest available designation.

Rainbow's NICU is one of only 21 units in the country deemed a National Research Center by NIH. Its team of 22 NICU doctors and six neonatology fellows have authored medical textbooks and directed innovative studies in research and clinical care of high-risk and low-birth weight babies.

Renovation plans

Rainbow's NICU has completed a large-scale renovation and expansion.^[6] The 38-bed NICU now connects to a 44-bed neonatal transitional unit on the same floor, several feet away from the delivery rooms at MacDonald Women's Hospital. Improvements include more bedside privacy for parents; an increase in the number of advanced diagnostic and imaging equipment; and also the ability to provide extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment without transporting the baby.

Rainbow's NICU admits approximately 1,000 newborns annually and also serves as the ECMO referral center for Northeast Ohio. The last major renovation of the NICU occurred over 16 years ago.

PICU

Rainbow's pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is a 16-bed combined medical-surgical unit which cares for more than 1500 critically ill children each year. An attending intensivist from the Division of Pediatric Critical Care coordinates care, in close cooperation with children's primary pediatricians and medical and surgical subspecialists.

Family and child life services

Rainbow's Family and Child Life Services Department employs a team of professionals whose responsibility is to ensure the best physical and mental care for patients, families and others involved in the child's care. Child life specialists provide individual consultations to help patients and families manage stress and understand various medical procedures. The department also gives patients access to art and music therapy, animal-assisted therapy, a multimedia library, on-site school teachers who make sure children stay up-to-date on homework, and The Rainbow Channel, the hospital's own commercial free, interactive, television channel geared toward children and families.

Services for professionals

Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital offers a number of services for medical professionals, including residency and fellowship programs, continuing medical education, a nursing program, and the Rainbow Center for Pediatric Ethics.

References