Arkansas Children's Hospital

Arkansas Children's Hospital
Geography
Location	Little Rock, Arkansas, US United States
Coordinates	34°44′36″N 92°17′29″W / 34.74327°N 92.29151°W / 34.74327; -92.29151Coordinates: 34°44′36″N 92°17′29″W / 34.74327°N 92.29151°W / 34.74327; -92.29151
Organisation
Care system	Private
Funding	Non-profit hospital
Hospital type	Specialist
Affiliated university	UAMS College of Medicine
Services
Emergency department	I
Beds	370
Speciality	Pediatrics
History
Founded	1912
Links
Website	www.archildrens.org

Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH) is a pediatric hospital with a Level I trauma center located in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is among the largest in the United States, serving children from birth to age 21. ACH is affiliated with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and serves as a teaching hospital with the UAMS College of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics.^[1][2] ACH staff consists of more than 505 physicians, 200 residents, and 4,400 support staff members. The hospital includes 356 licensed beds, and offers three intensive care units. The campus spans 36 city blocks and has a floor space totaling over 1,200,000 square feet (110,000 m²).^[2]

Marcy Doderer is president & CEO of Arkansas Children's Hospital, succeeding Dr. Jonathan Bates after his 2013 retirement.^[3]

Arkansas Children's is building a 233,613-square foot hospital in Springdale. Arkansas Children's Northwest will serve the 200,000 children who live in that 11-county area. Administrators say the facility will open in January 2018. Wal-Mart and the Wal-Mart Foundation have invested $8 million in the project, while J.B. Hunt has given $5 million toward the construction. ^[4]

First Lady of Arkansas Hillary Clinton served on the board of the Arkansas Children's Hospital Legal Services from 1988 to 1992.^[5]

National recognition

Awards

The Children's Hospital Association named Arkansas Children's Hospital a finalist for a Pediatric Quality Award in 2015. The organization highlighted ACH for its work to increase hand hygiene compliance rates among patient care staff.^[6]

The 2016 list of "Best Doctors in America" features several physicians on staff at Arkansas Children's Hospital. More than 100 additional physicians included in the list were affiliated more generally with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Health System^[7]

In 2011, Arkansas Children's Hospital set a national record for pediatric heart transplants conducted in a year. The hospital transplanted new hearts into 31 children and adults that year. ^[8]

The 2008 U.S. News & World Report included ACH in its ranking of top US pediatric medical facilities. Pediatricians nationwide were interviewed in order to rank hospitals on reputation, patient outcome, and care-related measures such as volume, nursing, and credentialing.^[9] ACH was ranked 24th in general pediatrics and 28th in pediatric cardiovascular care and surgery.^[10]

ACH is one of the largest employers in Arkansas and Fortune magazine named the hospital in its top 100 "Best Companies to Work For" in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.^[11]

News

As Arkansas Children’s continued efforts to build a new hospital in Springdale, the Tyson family and Tyson Family Foods committed $15 million to the project, marking the largest gift the organization had ever received. The gift created the Tyson Family Tower at Arkansas Children’s Northwest, anchoring the new facility which will include 233,613 square feet of inpatient beds, emergency care, diagnostic services and clinical space.^[12]

In August 2016, Arkansas Children’s Research Institute announced that it had received a $9.4 million award from the National Institutes of Health’s Institutional Development Award program to create a center for the study of childhood obesity. Drs. Judith Weber and Elisabet Borsheim will lead the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence. The award marked the first COBRE program at Arkansas Children’s, and provided funding and support for the center’s first five years.^[13]

In 2013, Arkansas Children’s Hospital successfully treated 12-year-old Kali Hardig for primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Her case became national news because she is one of only two known survivors of this disease, which she contracted after swimming in a warm-water lake park. Physicians at Arkansas Children’s Hospital credit Kali’s mother Traci with acting swiftly to get her child to the Emergency Department, saving her life. A team of laboratory staff, infectious disease physicians, critical care specialists and rehabilitation medicine experts worked with Kali for weeks to help her overcome the devastating illness. Anti-fungal medications and antibiotics were used. Physicians also contacted the CDC to get permission to use an experimental anti-amoeba drug that had to be shipped from the Atlanta headquarters. Arkansas Department of Health officials said 99 percent of people who contract the naegleria fowleri parasite die. Kali spent 22 days in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at ACH, followed by several weeks on the hospital’s rehabilitation floor before going home.^[14]

In 2007 ACH treated the case of 20-month-old Jacob Esses, which spurred the recall of the Aqua Dots toy. After swallowing a number of the toy beads, 1,4-Butanediol coating the beads was metabolized to Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB, a recreational anesthetic).^[15][16] The drug has been shown to cause unconsciousness, drowsiness, seizures, coma, or death.^[17]

ACH has been profiled a number of times on the Discovery Health Channel, perhaps most notably in the fall of 2007. The program “Surgery Saved My Life” examined how three physicians in the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Vascular Anomalies Center of Excellence handled patients’ potentially fatal vascular tumors. Featured in the documentary were James Suen, M.D., a head and neck surgeon at ACH and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS); Lisa Buckmiller, M.D., medical director of the ACH Vascular Anomalies Center; and Rick Jackson, M.D., a surgeon at the hospital and associate professor of Surgery in the UAMS College of Medicine. One patient featured in the profile was a 12-year-old girl who was born in Shanghai with what is believed to be the largest vascular tumor ever seen; Chinese surgeons had been reluctant to operate on the tumor.^[18]

Discovery Health's "Extreme Surgery" has also featured the hospital.^[19]

Accreditation and membership

Accreditation

ACH holds accreditation with the following agencies:^[20]

• American Sleep Disorders Association
• The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
• American Dental Association
• College of American Pathologists
• Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems
• Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (Failed 2009)
• American Association of Blood Banks
• American Society of Hospital Pharmacists

Membership

ACH holds membership in the following organizations:^[20]

• American Hospital Association
• Arkansas Hospital Association
• Association for the Care of Children’s Health
• Children's Miracle Network
• Child Health Corporation of America
• Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E)
• National Association of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions, Inc.
• National Fire Protection Association

References