The relationship between Riley Children's Health and Indiana University is forged through shared interests. These interests define both entities:
- Our commitment to excellent healthcare for children through prominence in education, training and research
- Our desire for rapid innovation in children’s health
- Our quest to use what we know about children’s health to make a difference for families. This difference reaches across the state and around the globe.
The Indiana University School of Medicine brings many resources to our relationship. It is one of the largest medical schools in the country. That helps us develop, attract and keep the world’s most brilliant physician-scientists. These people dedicate their lives with the day-to-day care of patients. They have an active role in research, mentorship and training of the next generation of physicians and subspecialists.
The IU School of Medicine is one of the nation's busiest locations for funded pediatric health research by the National Institutes of Health and other sponsors. This draws thousands of families to Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health for clinical trials that improve upon their standard care options.
Together, we solve the most persistent problems in children’s health. This bond is so integrated that there is little distinction between us—and none when it comes to how we care for children and families.
Riley Children's Health provides the structure for transforming patient care access to primary and subspecialty care. This access is available in locations throughout Indiana. U.S News & World Report and others mark us as one of the nation's best children's hospitals. This is due to our success in providing children with good outcomes. It is also due to the breadth and depth of our expertise.
These signs of excellence are a result of the alliance between Riley at IU Health, the IU School of Medicine, the Indiana University School of Nursing and the Indiana University School of Health & Human Sciences.
The scope of our relationship with Indiana University and its benefit to public health is shown best by example:
Sustaining World-Class Comprehensive Specialty Care for Children
Riley Children's Health physicians are faculty in the Department of Pediatrics, the Department of Surgery, the Department of Anesthesia, the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, and the Department of Emergency Medicine, among others at the IU School of Medicine. As a comprehensive children’s hospital, Riley at IU Health maintains its national leadership and is ranked in 9 out of 10 pediatric subspecialties by educating the next generation of specialists.
Our expertise in surgery and ability to care for the most injured children gives the hospital a special distinction. Riley at IU Health is the state’s only designated Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center. It is also the state's only verified pediatric burn program. Riley at IU Health also offers one of Indiana’s only Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for babies that need advanced critical care.
Training Healthcare Professionals in Every Aspect of Care
Our commitment to education goes far beyond the internships, residencies and fellowship programs. We train healthcare professionals across the entire spectrum of care. This provides real-world experiences for students of physical therapy, respiratory therapy, nursing, audiology and behavioral therapy. Eventually, these students will work at hospitals and clinics around the state—including our own.
Our kinship with the IU School of Nursing is one of the many factors that play a role in our national prominence. This prominence includes Magnet status for excellence in nursing care and patient outcomes. This designation by the American Nurses Credentialing Center puts us in the top 7 percent of all U.S. hospitals.
Making Pediatric Research a Priority
As faculty members at the IU School of Medicine, our physicians take part in pediatric research. This research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, the American Heart Association and many others.
Without this form of discovery, new treatments for children’s health would come at a much slower pace. Children represent a smaller market with many more conditions than adults. That means there is less commercial interest in pediatric health research. Those realities make academic health centers like ours an important source of discovery in children’s health.
The national and international prominence of our physicians draws like-minded institutions, people, and resources to innovation in children’s health.
Fostering Innovation at Home and Abroad
Innovation at Riley at IU Health happens in many ways. It happens through work with the biotech industry, clinical networks and universities in Indiana and beyond.
The origins of those collaborations most often stem from our connection with Indiana University. This is through the Children’s Clinical Research Center on the campus of Riley at IU Health, the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research and Children’s Health Services Research. These entities are major contributors in the field of pediatric health in Indiana and around the world.
Together, they influence the way healthcare gets delivered. And they generate better outcomes for children.
Reaching Out to Hoosier Families
Providing world-class care keeps us in tune with Hoosier patients and those who live near Indiana’s borders. The IU School of Medicine is part of the mix that brings expert pediatric care to these families.
Together, we work with hospitals and healthcare systems throughout the state. This brings better care to children of Indiana, such as the regional hubs organized to screen children for conditions such as autism. The program gives Indiana’s children local aid. The support prepares them for school and helps them function better at earlier ages. It comes with broad support from parents, educators and healthcare providers.