MUSC Ranks 19th in Gastroenterology in U.S. News Media Group’s 2008 Edition of America’s Best Hospitals
MUSC has been ranked 19th for treatment of gastrointestinal disorders in U.S. News’s 2008 publication of America’s Best Hospitals, accessible today online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and on sale at newsstands Monday, July 14.
Authoritative and influential, the 2008 America’s Best Hospitals guide ranks 170 medical centers nationwide in 16 specialties--with full data available online for another 1,500 that are unranked. In addition, the Honor Roll singles out the “best of the best.”
The 16 ranked specialties are cancer; gastroenterology; ear, nose, and throat; endocrinology; geriatric care; gynecology; heart and heart surgery; kidney disease; neurology and neurosurgery; ophthalmology; orthopedics; psychiatry; rehabilitation; respiratory disorders; rheumatology; and urology.
“The America’s Best Hospitals rankings provide readers with trusted material during some of life’s most concerning times – hospitalization,” said Brian Kelly, editor of U.S.News & World Report. “Our rankings highlight the internal culture of excellence embraced by caregivers in the great hospitals throughout the U.S.”
“Talent and money alone don’t put hospitals in the rankings,” agreed Best Hospitals editor Avery Comarow. “The truly best hospitals are never satisfied,” he said. “Of course they have high medical standards. But the emphasis is not only on doing well, but always doing better--squeezing another few percentage points out of the infection rate, improving the quality of life of elderly patients besides helping more of them survive.”
Digestive Specialists
The MUSC Digestive Disease Center, located in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina, brings together the diverse specialties involved in evaluating and treating digestive diseases.
We have made a strong commitment to providing informative resources to patients and their loved ones wishing to enhance their understanding of various digestive diseases and/or procedures.
The management of digestive diseases, which has improved enormously over the last two to three decades, has also become more complex as the number of treatments have proliferated making it essential for specialists of different expertise to work together to provide the most effective and efficient treatment. This collaboration works best when the specialists work together in a coordinated group such as the Digestive Disease Center.
Your Digestive System
Digestion is the process of turning food into fuel for energy, and for maintenance of the body structure. The digestive tract is the apparatus which serves this function, and provides for the elimination of waste products. The process of digestion is incredibly complex.
The digestive tract is one long continuous tube from mouth to anus, but is traditionally separated into sections (organs): mouth and pharynx; esophagus; stomach; duodenum; small bowel (small intestine); and, colon (large intestine) and rectum. Attached to the digestive tube (at the duodenum) are two other very important digestive organs – the liver (with its drainage system, the biliary tree) and the pancreas.
• Colonoscopy – Still the Preferred Method of Colon Cancer Screening (Oct 2008)
VIDEO: Non-acid reflux interview with Dr. Castell (broadcast on at least 15 TV stations nationwide)
VIDEO: DDW Press Conference 2008
Improvements in Bariatric Surgery
Professor Randy Pausch Delivered One-of-a-kind Last Lecture
July 31, 2008 – With equal parts humor and heart, Carnegie Mellon professor and alumnus Randy Pausch delivered a one-of-a-kind last lecture that moved an overflow crowd at the university — and went on to move audiences around the globe. Randy died July 25 of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 47. Here is a link to his lecture.
Cooking Videos Can Help You Prepare Healthy and Delicious Foods
July 16, 2008 – The MUSC Bariatric Surgery Team Dietitians have started to put together a series of cooking demonstration videos to help their patients and others learn new ways of preparing healthy and delicious foods. These video demonstrations will be posted once a month in the "recipe corner" of MUSCHealth's weight loss surgery website, complete with a printable version of the recipe. While you are there, you can also browse some of the patient-provided recipes or even submit one of your own!