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Transforming pediatric healthcare: a decade of innovation in global hospitals (2015–2024)

Pediatric Research volume 98, pages 49–51 (2025)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

As pediatric hospitals continue to grow in innovation, it is important to create a standardized metric to measure this growth and create a network to encourage further innovation. We worked to classify all pediatric hospitals on a scale of innovation with the goal of encouraging collaboration that can lead to more overall innovation.

Methods

All pediatric hospitals worldwide were ranked on a scale of innovation from 1 to 3, with 1 being the most innovative, or “established,” and 3 being the least innovative, or “nascent.” This scale is based on information found on the hospital’s website or in articles about the hospital with regards to their innovation. These hospitals were ranked in 2015, 2020, and between 2023 and 2024 among five different raters.

Results

The number of worldwide hospitals in each category of innovation was evaluated in 2015, 2020, and 2023–2024. Between 2015 and 2024, there was a 48% decrease in the number of “nascent” hospitals, a 4.5% increase in “emerging” hospitals, and a 120% increase in “established” hospitals.

Conclusion

The changes that hospitals have undergone in their respective categories of innovation over the past nine years suggest an overall increase in innovation.

Impact

  • Pediatric hospitals worldwide have become more innovative over the past decade, but there is very limited literature that has assessed this trajectory at a broad level.

  • Creating a standardized metric of innovation can promote a culture that enables less innovative hospitals to collaborate with their more innovative counterparts

  • This metric of innovation is the first that we’ve seen in the literature that assesses all pediatric hospitals on a scale of innovation and tracks their progress over time.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, USA

    Anjali Alamshaw

  2. University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Vivian Nguyen

  3. Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA, USA

    Jasmin Joshi

  4. Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine, Las Cruces, NM, USA

    Amber Osorno

  5. University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Hana Baig

  6. Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Orange, CA, USA

    Anthony Chang

Authors
  1. Anjali Alamshaw
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  2. Vivian Nguyen
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  3. Jasmin Joshi
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  4. Amber Osorno
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  5. Hana Baig
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  6. Anthony Chang
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Contributions

Each author has met the authorship requirements listed in Pediatric Research: Anjali Alamshaw: Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; final approval of the version to be published. Vivian Nguyen: Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content. Jasmin Joshi: Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content. Amber Osorno: Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data. Hana Baig: Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data. Anthony Chang: Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anjali Alamshaw.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Alamshaw, A., Nguyen, V., Joshi, J. et al. Transforming pediatric healthcare: a decade of innovation in global hospitals (2015–2024). Pediatr Res 98, 49–51 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03697-0

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