Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital

Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital is a children's hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. It is a part of University Hospitals Case Medical Center, formerly University Hospitals of Cleveland. From 2007 - 2009 it waas ranked as one of the top three pediatric hospitals in the Midwestern United States, and a top 10 children's hospital nationally by U.S. News & World Report.^[1] In 2009, Rainbow ranked second in the country for neonatal care.^[2]

The hospital was founded in 1906. It currently has 244 beds, and over 850 physicians, nurses, child life specialists, social workers, and other care professionals. It treats 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 the treatment of high-risk and premature newborns. It is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University.^[3]

Rankings

U.S. Navy personnel visiting with patients

2009 U.S. News & World Report National Rankings'^[2]

The hospital was ranked second nationally for neonatal care by U.S. News & World Report.^[2] It regularly conducts clinical trials in the treatment of pediatric health disorders including pediatric oncology, depression and lupus. It also offers services for medical professionals, including residency and fellowship programs, continuing medical education, a nursing program, and the Rainbow Center for Pediatric Ethics.

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 (NIH) have designated it as a level III Neonatal Research Center – the highest available designation.^[4]

The NICU is one of 21 units in the country deemed a National Research Center by the NIH. Its team of 22 NICU doctors and six neonatology fellows have authored medical textbooks and directed studies in research and clinical care of high-risk and low-birth weight babies. It admits approximately 1,000 newborns annually, and also serves as the ECMO referral center for Northeast Ohio.

In 2009 the NICU completed a renovation and expansion.^[5] 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 diagnostic and imaging equipment, and the ability to provide extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment without transporting the baby.

PICU

Rainbow's pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) is a 23-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 cooperation with children's primary pediatricians and medical and surgical subspecialists.

References