Media Coverage

Seven hospitals in Illinois are among 118 hospitals across the U.S. included in Leapfrog Group’s annual list of the nation’s highest-quality hospitals. In Chicago, the winners include Northwestern Memorial Hospital, University of Chicago Medical Center, Amita Health Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center and Amita Health Resurrection Medical Center. Also making the list are OSF Holy Family Medical Center in Monmouth in western Illinois, Elmhurst Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva.

Seven Illinois hospitals are among the top 118 in the country, though two of Chicago’s most well-known institutions didn’t make the cut, according to the nonprofit Leapfrog Group’s annual list.

The seven hospitals are Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Elmhurst Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva, OSF Holy Family Medical Center in Monmouth, Amita Health Resurrection Medical Center Chicago, Amita Health Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center Chicago, and University of Chicago Medical Center.

Seven Illinois hospitals – including four in Chicago – are among the best in the nation, according to The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit watchdog. The group’s 2018 Top Hospitals list recognizes a total of 118 hospitals across the country, organized into four categories. Hospitals in Illinois are represented in all but one category: top children’s hospitals. Top General Hospitals: Elmhurst Memorial Hospital; Northwestern Delnor Hospital (Geneva); Top Teaching Hospitals: AMITA Health Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center Chicago (formerly Presence Saints Mary and Elizabeth); AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center Chicago (formerly Presence Resurrection); Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago); The University of Chicago Medical Center

“We have known for a long time, 20 to 25 years, that the gonorrhea bacteria may be resistant to several antibiotics including penicillin, but the rate of resistance to traditional treatment has hastened in recent years,” said Dr. Frank Palella, a professor of infectious diseases at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Currently, the CDC recommends a combination drug therapy of two different antibiotics in the form of an intramuscular shot and a pill — plus azithromycin or doxycycline.

“These people are inspirational,” said Jenny Conviser, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “And it’s true that if you see somebody managing something that is challenging and managing it well, they can inspire and motivate and help us remember that it’s possible to go there.”[…]Conviser says the rest of us can emulate such winter warriors in small ways: remain active, take charge of the situation, stay warm and take care of ourselves emotionally. That might be as simple as taking a walk, making a snow angel or enjoying the sight of your dog rolling in the snow, Conviser said.

Friends also can guard against what is often a teenager’s biggest enemy – her own mind. “The teen years are a particularly vulnerable time for the development of certain types of mental health difficulties,” including depression, Karen Gouze, a director at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, wrote in an email. “Research clearly demonstrates the importance of social supports and engagement with others as a protective factor against depression.”

What’s particularly striking about the findings is that the “data set in question is one that reflects the ideal care model,” said Dr. Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study. “And after controlling for as many things as you can there is still this nagging difference that unfortunately tracks to the race of the patient.” The new research means that all of us “finally have to acknowledge the perverse influence of subconscious bias,” said Yancy. “We should be aware of this and institute strategies that allow us to acknowledge this is operative in decision making and see ways to overcome it.”

“Since secondhand smoke has been found to negatively affect the functioning of blood vessels, our results suggest that smoke-free policies help to protect non-smokers from these effects,” said study leader Stephanie Mayne of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in email to Reuters Health. It’s not clear why the smoking bans were not linked to reductions in diastolic blood pressure or the risk of developing high blood pressure, said Mayne, who did the study while at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Friends also can guard against what is often a teenager’s biggest enemy – her own mind. “The teen years are a particularly vulnerable time for the development of certain types of mental health difficulties,” including depression, Karen Gouze, a director at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, wrote in an email. “Research clearly demonstrates the importance of social supports and engagement with others as a protective factor against depression.”

Dr. Larry Kociolek welcomed the new articles. “I think they are largely a call for heightened action,” said Kociolek, associate medical director of infection prevention and control at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “There’s nothing we’ve seen to suggest this is going away. And because of the profound (complications) associated with this diagnosis, we do need to escalate our public health response.” The biggest challenge right now is pinpointing the cause of AFM, Kociolek said. “Unlike polio where it was found to be caused by one particular virus, many children have not had either clinical or microbiologic evidence of infection and the vast majority have not had any virus identified in their cerebrospinal fluid.”