John Hopkins Hospital, Essay Example

The Johns Hopkins Hospital, which includes the Johns Hopkins School Of Medicine, is considered one of the best, if not the best, hospitals in the United States for the last 20 years, according to its ranking by U.S. News and World Report (U.S. News Best Hospital Rankings, 2010-2011.) It is a teaching hospital as well as a biomedical research facility situated in Baltimore, Maryland.  Considered to be the hallmark medical institution of modern-day American medicine, it is known for developing such universally-utilized concepts as rounds and residencies.  It is also home to a wealth of medical specialties and has a prominent staff of specialists concentrating in fields of neurosurgery, urology, endocrinology, cardiac surgery, psychiatry and pediatrics.

The stated mission of Johns Hopkins medicine is noted in the following statement: “The mission of Johns Hopkins Medicine is to improve the health of the community and the world by setting the standard of excellence in medical education, research and clinical care.  Diverse and inclusive, Johns Hopkins Medicine educates medical students, scientists, health care professionals and the public; conducts biomedical research; and provides patient-centered medicine to prevent, diagnose and treat human illness” (Johns Hopkins Medicine, n.d.) The hospital seeks to a provide an inclusive environment that promotes intellectual discoveries, creates and transmits cutting-edge knowledge, improves human health, and provides medical leadership to the world (Johns Hopkins Medicine.)

The key strategy utilized by Johns Hopkins is to provide a school of medicine that provides training to medical students, graduate students, and postdoctoral Fellows in an effort to meet the highest professional standards, to prepare them to practice patient-centered medicine of the highest quality, and to identify an answer basic questions pertaining two the prevention and treatment of disease in both health care delivery and in the basic sciences.  By providing such a high caliber educational experience to their students, Johns Hopkins is meeting its objectives by sending out the best trained clinicians and researchers to practice medicine and conduct research that will help to improve global health on a micro-and macro-basis (The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Mission Statement and Education Program Objectives.)

The way in which Johns Hopkins accomplishes these goals requires the development of the detailed set of strategic plans for its graduates, which include: applying scientific principles and a multidisciplinary body of scientific knowledge to the diagnosis, management, and prevention of clinical problems; understanding the variation in the presentation of health and disease through critical evaluation of biomedical research; developing a sufficient level of medical expertise in order to understand the basic facts and principles that are necessary for competent delivery of medical services; demonstrating the highest standard of successful and efficient performance in data gathering, organization, interpretation and medical decision-making in order to prevent, diagnosis, and manage illness; comprehending in taking into account the variables that impact social, behavioral, and financial aspects of health, illness, and medical care; developing the ability to display useful and compassionate interpersonal communication skills aimed at patience and families that are essential in providing valuable medical care; the ability two communicate information and ideas coherently and clearly in order to educate and inform patients, families, professional colleagues and the surrounding community; possessing the personal qualities of compassion, honesty, and integrity when interfacing with all the aforementioned groups; following the highest ethical standards of conduct as it pertains to a health care setting; being able to engage in critical self-evaluation in the practice of medicine and to give than receive constructive comments to and from patience, their families, and other healthcare professionals; and finally, too understand the boundaries of personal experience and to display intellectual curiosity to continue to learn the new skills that are essential to improve medical practice as well as to contribute to the scientific body of medical knowledge (The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Mission Statement and Education Program Objectives.)

The critical emphasis on training new doctors and sending them out to practice medicine according to the indisputably rigorous standards of medicine practiced at the Johns Hopkins Hospital ensures that the medical care both within that setting as well as that provided by its graduates is of the highest possible caliber.  It is for this reason that people come from near and far to receive treatment for all sorts of maladies, knowing that they will be in the best hands possible.  I write this speaking from personal experience, since although my family lives nowhere near Maryland, family members have traveled to Johns Hopkins in order to be treated for serious illnesses, and always with the best results possible.  Although the United States’ healthcare system certainly has its problems, this wonderful health system exemplifies the best of the best.

References

Johns Hopkins Medicine Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved from Johns Hopkins Medicine: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/mission.html

The Johns Hopkins Hospital Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2011, from www.johns hopkinshospital.org: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/the_johns_hopkins_hospital/mission.html

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Mission Statement and Education Program Objectives. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2011, from www.johnshopkinshospital.org.

U.S. News Best Hospital Rankings, 2010-2011. (n.d.). Retrieved February 5, 2011, from U.S. News Health: http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/johns-hopkins-hospital-6320180/rankings