Patient Safety and Quality Initiatives

At UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, we believe that patients and families have the right to know (and should know):

• the quality and safety principles of the organization that provides their care
• not just what we’re currently doing to ensure top-notch care, but how we are evaluating ways to do even better

This site will provide you with resources to help you decide whether Children’s Hospital is the best choice for your child and family.

Our patient safety and quality teams ensure that the Hospital is held to the highest of standards. Through an unwavering joint commitment to teamwork and excellence, we closely monitor care and seek opportunities to improve. We use Continuous Performance Improvement, a methodology that achieves highly reliable and safe patient outcomes and encourages transformative process improvement.

We believe that quality and safety come from transparency, consideration of patients and families alike, the continued growth and education of our professionals, and maintaining a progressive, cutting-edge approach to our world-renowned care.

UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is known nationally and internationally for excellence in pediatric medicine and for providing comprehensive, family-centered primary and specialty care.

If you have kids, be glad you have Children’s.

Exceeding Standards

At UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, we have a responsibility to provide excellence in clinical care and patient safety. One way that we do this is by consistently evaluating our policies and performance against the requirements and recommendations of national leaders, both governmental and private agencies.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health Division of Acute and Ambulatory Care is responsible for the licensing and oversight of Pennsylvania’s 264 hospitals. The division conducts Medicare and licensure surveys, and conducts complaint and incident investigations.

The Joint Commission (TJC) is an independent, non-profit organization that accredits and certifies Children’s Hospital along with more than 20,500 health care organizations and programs in the United States. These institutions are recognized as being commitment to high quality performance, and take steps to prevent medical errors according to National Patient Safety Goals. These goals have been determine by a panel of national safety experts who review the types and causes of medical errors.

We believe in exceeding the minimum standards that are required by these accrediting bodies.

Awards and Recognitions

Over the past five years, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh has received many accolades for our groundbreaking medical care, focus on patient safety, and innovations in information technology:

• Children's achieved prestigious Magnet® recognition, granted by the American Nurses Credentialing Center to only 6 percent of hospitals nationwide. 
• Children’s became the first pediatric hospital in the United States to achieve a Stage 7 Award from HIMSS Analytics for achieving a virtually paperless patient record environment and the most comprehensive use of electronic medical records. 
• Children’s was recognized by KLAS, an independent health care research organization, as the leader in use of health care information technology among pediatric hospitals in the United States.
• Children’s was honored with an Excellence in Life Support Award from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO).
• Children’s primary care network, UPMC Children’s Community Pediatrics, received the 2014 Silver Achievement Award from the American Psychiatric Association.
• UPMC Children’s is consistently named to the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of Best Children's Hospitals.
• The 2014 APA Research Award was awarded to Alejandro Hoberman, MD, Chief of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics by the Academic Pediatric Association. The award acknowledges his contributions toward advancing pediatric knowledge through excellence in research, originality, creativity, and methodological soundness.
• Children's was named one of the world's most beautiful hospitals in 2019 bysoliant.com. 

In addition to these prestigious national awards, Children’s physicians, nurses, and other caregivers have been recognized through the following local awards:

• Eugene S. Wiener Patient Safety Award is for individuals who go above and beyond routine job responsibilities to promote patient safety.
• ACEs honors staff whose everyday actions and personal acts of courage and compassion support UPMC's values and exceed the high level of service that the community has come to expect from UPMC.
• Frank Lemoyne Award honors a professional nurse who has made outstanding contributions to pediatric nursing at Children’s.
• Oasis recognize efforts in applying the principles of evidence-based practice on individual units and departments at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
• The Mary Ann Scully nursing award, awarded by the American Heart Association, recognizes excellence in cardiovascular nursing throughout Allegheny County.
• Kid’s First recognizes behaviors that re-enforce and demonstrate the vision, mission, and values of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
• Daisy Award recognizes “the superhuman work that nurses do every day.” Any Children’s employee may nominate a nurse who demonstrates a positive and supportive attitude; excellent interpersonal skills with all members of the health care team, support services, patients and families; compassion and caring dealing with patient and families; and is someone who goes above and beyond.
• Ambulatory Accolades recognizes an employee deserving of special thanks for their hard work.
• Praise from Patients announces honorees that were singled-out by patients and their families for creating a positive experience for the patient.
• The Federoff-Gallagher Spirit Award recognizes neonatal nurse practitioners who exemplify excellence in all they do.
• Dignity and Respect Champion recognizes an individual who lives dignity and respect and encourages others to do the same in their day-to-day work and life.
• Howard A. Mermelstein Award is a peer-awarded honor that recognizes outstanding academic pediatricians/pediatric surgeons and community-based pediatricians on an alternating basis. The awardee is a beloved practitioner, active in the community and committed to children, teaching and the betterment of the profession.
• Cameos of Caring, sponsored by the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Nursing, recognizes exceptional nurses who are committed to quality patient care. This awards program also serves to increase public awareness about the nursing profession, and encourages a new generation of nurses to meet the escalating demand for excellence in health care.
• Emergency Medicine Award is awarded by the ED faculty to a second-year resident who excelled in the ED.
• Susan K. Makoroff Award is awarded to a graduating resident who practices compassionate care and integrates social and emotional support in healthcare.
• Pamela J. Murray Adolescent Award is awarded by the Adolescent Medicine faculty to a graduating resident who excelled in the care of adolescent patients.
• Ann E. Thompson Award is awarded by the PICU faculty to a graduating resident who excelled in the field of critical care medicine.
• GAP Primary Care Award is awarded by the GAP faculty to a graduating resident who excelled in the field of primary care.
• Paul C. Gaffney Diagnostic Referral Service Award is awarded by the DRG faculty to a graduating resident who excels in compassionate care of hospitalized patients.
• Mark A. Sperling Resident Scholarly Project Award is awarded to a graduating resident who completed an outstanding scholarly project.
• Jeffrey Farkas Award is awarded by the third-year medical students and DRG faculty to an intern who is an outstanding teacher and clinician.
• Londino Teaching Award is awarded by the interns and second-year residents to a graduating resident who is an outstanding teacher and clinician.