U.S.News & World Report magazine has ranked Rush among an elite group of hospitals in the country for both nursing care and pain management. In both categories, Rush placed in the top 10 percent out of the small group of hospitals that U.S.News & World Report rates the best in America in their annual evaluation. These rankings are posted on the usnews.com Web site.

The U.S.News & World Report nursing and pain management rankings are based on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey results that hospitals reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for calendar year 2008. The HCAHPS survey collects and reports standardized data about how hospital patients feel about their care. This information can be found at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.

U.S.News & World Report reviewed only the HCAHPS scores of the hospitals included in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" rankings (about 3 percent of nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide) - meaning that Rush's nursing care and pain management already were being judged against the best. Out of this elite group, Rush was one of only two hospitals in the Chicago area and the only academic medical center in Chicago to rank in the top 10 percent for nursing care, and one of only three Chicago area hospitals in the top 10 percent for pain management.

The hospitals that were included in the top rankings for nursing care had the highest percentage of patients who reported that their nurses "were ‘always' courteous, listened carefully, and gave clear explanations." Among Rush's patients, 78 percent said this description fit their nurses. In addition, 71 percent of our patients said their pain "always" was well controlled, which was the criteria for inclusion among the top-ranked hospitals for pain management.

These scores put Rush very close to the top-ranked hospitals for nursing and pain management, which received favorable evaluations from 82 percent and 75 percent of their patients, respectively.

"The results are a tribute to the great work of our nursing staff and our multidisciplinary patient care teams and their commitment to put compassion for our patients at the heart of everything they do," said Jane Llewellyn, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, vice president, chief nursing officer and associate dean for practice. "At Rush, nothing is more important than our patients, and it's especially gratifying to know they believe we are taking good care of them."