Telling the Hospital Story: Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement

In a pioneering study, researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital and the Texas A&M University School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) uncovered extreme genetic similarities between brain tumors in humans and dogs. Published in the Acta Neuropathologica journal, the research could help uncover effective new treatments for both humans and canines.

MU Health Care is just the second hospital in the U.S. to perform lung scans using xenon MRI, a groundbreaking technology that promises to greatly improve providers’ abilities to evaluate lung diseases like cystic fibrosis, asthma, COPD and cancer.

Recent research findings, authored in part by UW Medicine, showed that during western Washington’s 2022 mpox outbreak, emergency response teams were highly accurate at identifying suspected mpox and providing same-day care.

Clinical trial participants are often the unsung heroes of medicine. Clinical research investigates new ways to prevent, detect and treat illness, and the courageous patients who participate in it play a foundational role in that process.

Michael Pitt, M.D., a pediatric hospitalist at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital, helped create a mobile application that sends real-time notifications to patients’ families on when their doctors are making their rounds, creating opportunities for those families to see them.

Patients in western Maryland who have aortic valve disease now have a less-invasive treatment option available at UPMC Western Maryland. The facility in Cumberland, Md., performed its first transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in March 2024.

When it comes to lung cancer, less than 5% of high-risk patients nationally receive screening; in Maryland, the number is less than 3%. Now, at the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center’s Lung Center and Tate Cancer Center, a team of experts in lung cancer, thoracic surgery and interventional pulmonology are joining forces to improve the rate of screening and, hopefully, save lives.

In a time when there are mobile app chatbots for nearly everything, one Washington state hospital is wielding this technology to address one of the most damaging behaviors to our health – cigarette smoking.

At Landmark Medical Center, based in Woonsocket, R.I., new moms and their babies receive care in a comfortable setting designed to feel like home. Landmark’s Maternity Care and Newburn Nursery Precious Beginnings specializes in offering a single room maternity experience, where all aspects of the birth process occur in one room with a consistent team of care providers.

The Critical Care and Trauma Simulation Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center is one of the most technologically advanced training centers in the region. There, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals train on mannequins that breathe, whose eyes respond to light, and who even bleed when an IV is placed.

For some kids, few things are as nerve-racking as an upcoming hospital visit. The blank white walls, labyrinthian hallways and conversations with unfamiliar grownups can feel intimidating and uncomfortable. But Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital in Loma Linda, Calif., soothes these young patients with a little bit of imagination known as Loma Land.

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is the first in the state to participate in a trial using a new sensor that can help patients monitor their fluid levels. The sensor is implanted during a minimally invasive procedure, and patients can be discharged the same day.

Esther Whitley had been feeling tired and out of breath for months before she visited her doctor. The cause was a mitral valve leak, meaning blood was flowing in the wrong direction. There was also another, more serious complication: A tumor was present on her heart, which would usually require open-heart surgery to remove. That procedure would carry risk for any patient, but at age 86, it was an impossibility for Whitley. There simply wasn’t a way to treat her safely – until there was.

TeamBirth at Providence St. Peter in Olympia and Providence Centralia in Centralia is an industry-standard birthing-communication process.

St. John’s Hospital Camarillo of Camarillo, Calif. recently became the first hospital in southern California and the second in the state to use a groundbreaking treatment for AFib. Medical staff from St. John’s and the affiliated St. John’s Regional Medical Center used the POLARx cryoablation system, which restores normal heart rhythm by disabling heart cells that create an irregular heartbeat.

A terrific new care site option is now available for Phoenix-area babies born with nearly any kind of medical condition.

Michigan Medicine and Henry Ford Health are partnering to launch the largest-ever clinical trial to determine if administering the marijuana-derived compound known as cannabidiol (CBD) before and after surgery may reduce the need for opioids following a total knee arthroplasty.

The team at Catholic Medical Center’s New England Heart & Vascular Institute in Manchester, N.H., uses state-of-the-art technology and performs cutting-edge procedures that help improve patients’ lives.

John Shin, M.D., an orthopedic spine surgeon with RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group, recently performed New Jersey’s first unilateral biportal endoscopic (UBE) spine surgery at Jersey City Medical Center.