University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics - National Distinctions

National Distinctions

Ever since U.S. News & World Report began publishing its "Best Hospitals in America" reports in 1990, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has appeared on that list every year. In 2009, UI Hospitals and Clinics had three specialties ranked within the top 10 nationally: Otolaryngology (third); Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (sixth); and Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation (eighth). Other ranked specialties at UI Hospitals and Clinics include neurology/neurosurgery (22), cancer (27), kidney (34) and gynecology (36).

• More than 270 UI Physicians have been named “Best Doctors in America” by their peers.
• Wellmark Center of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery
• NCI Comprehensive cancer center (one of less than 60 nationally).
• Magnet Award for Nursing Excellence (first in Iowa)
• Development site of buffered aspirin, later marketed by Bristol-Meyers as Bufferin.
• First hospital in the U.S. to implant a multichannel cochlear implant that helps deaf patients hear sounds that can be interpreted as speech.
• First hospital in the world to implant a multichannel cochlear implant in a congenitally deaf child.
• First research center to discover the gene for open-angle glaucoma.
• First hospital in the world to use robotic surgery for removal of an adrenal carcinoma (an aggressive deadly tumor) and an adrenal mass from a pediatric patient.
• World's smallest patient (Nissen fundoplication in a 5.7 pound infant) to undergo gastric reflux surgery using the da Vinci robotic surgical system.
• First hospital in the U.S. to perform digital breast tomosynthesis imaging, which allows physicians to "page through" the interior of the breast without the superimposition of the other tissues.