Our New Spine and Scoliosis Center

Nemours Ranked 7th in the Nation for Kids' Orthopedics

U.S. News & World Report 2011-12 edition of “Best Children’s Hospitals” names Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children as 7th in the country for orthopedic specialty care.

Patient Story

  • Orthopedics: Alex

    Orthopedics: Alex

    Eight-year-old Alex is in constant motion. The difference in the length of his legs and wearing a built-up sneaker doesn’t slow him down one bit. His ...

Orthopedics

Physician with child receiving orthopedic care at Nemours

Nemours is the one of the largest and most widely respected clinical orthopedic practice in the United States. We provide comprehensive care for children who are born with bone, joint, muscular, and nerve conditions, or who develop these conditions because of disease or injury.

But our distinguished reputation didn’t happen overnight. We’ve been setting the standard for orthopedic care since 1940, when Alfred I. duPont’s philanthropic vision was first realized through the creation of the duPont Institute in Delaware — a place which, for 40 years, was devoted entirely to children’s orthopedics and led by renowned physicians in the developing field.

Since then, the hospital has grown and so has our program. Yet its pioneering spirit remains. The Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children was recently named one of the country’s “Best Children’s Hospitals,” and it is currently listed in the History, Genealogy and Evolution of Children’s Orthopaedics in North America as one of the ten “Leading Children’s Orthopedic Fellowship Training Centers.” Annually, our department accounts for more than 40,000 visits, attracting patients from across the country and around the world.

The department has further fulfilled the vision of Alfred I. duPont by expanding its geographic reach through the Nemours Children’s Clinic locations in Jacksonville, Orange Park, and Pensacola, Florida. Together, we share a commitment to procedural and technological excellence, dedicated and compassionate care, and the latest in clinical research and training. Simply put, when you choose Nemours for your child’s orthopedic care, you are choosing the most advanced, highest quality care available.

The Nemours Difference

As pediatric orthopedists, we are dedicated to the treatment of neuromuscular and musculoskeletal conditions – and a large part of our mission is to recognize and treat these problems as early in your child’s life as possible. Our goal always is to restore function and improve your child’s quality of life.

But there are other qualities that make us an international leader in the field, and this is the Nemours Difference.

  • We use a coordinated team approach, working closely with Subspecialty Pediatric Pysicians, Medical Imaging, Physical and Occupational Therapy, Rehabilitation, and your child’s primary care doctor to integrate your child’s care and give the best possible course of treatment.
  • We are able to schedule most appointments quickly, without long wait times.
  • We want the family to be an active participant in the decision-making process. We recognize the importance of the parents’ role in the care and healing process and work to create a strong doctor-parent partnership. You’ll have direct access to your child’s attending physician, giving you one source for information and care.
  • We make it easier for you to see everyone on your child’s care team at the same time. Families can usually meet with orthopedic and other specialists on a single day, all at one location. And because we use an electronic medical record, your child’s entire health care team has instant access to information about your child’s progress and treatment.
  • We are able to support all treatment with a state-of-the-art Cast Room, as well as on-site Brace, Orthotic, and Prosthetic shops.
  • We are constantly innovating new ways to diagnose and treat orthopedic conditions. For example, the duPont Hospital was among the first in the nation to offer a Gait and Motion Analysis Lab, where we use technologically advanced techniques to analyze the way a child walks, including such details as the timing of muscles, the forces produced by the motion, and the movement of various joints.

Our Areas of Expertise

In addition, all Nemours locations benefit from the enhanced expertise provided by the following specialty support services:

Orthopedic Physicians Staff

What to Expect on Your First Visit

Your first trip to any of our orthopedic centers is usually a comprehensive diagnostic visit. Allow 1 to 2 hours for this visit, which may include:

  • a thorough review of your child’s medical and family history
  • a review of previous medical records and X-rays
  • a detailed physical examination, including many measurements
  • an assessment of range of joint motions and the relative length of the limb segments. Depending upon this evaluation, further radiological, biochemical, or molecular testing may be needed.

Often doctors can give you a specific diagnosis in this initial evaluation. But some conditions can take time to diagnose, and further evaluation may be required before the doctors can pinpoint the problem.

After Your Visit

Once a specific diagnosis is made, we’ll tailor the treatment and management strategies to meet the needs of your child and your family.

In addition to medical care and specialist referrals, we provide emotional and psychological support to help families cope with and manage their child’s condition. We also offer genetic counseling services.

Orthopedic Surgery Outcomes

Since 1940, Nemours has been setting the standards for orthopedic procedures for kids who were either born with bone, joint, muscular, and nerve conditions, or who develop these conditions because of disease or injury. We’re one of the largest and most widely respected clinical orthopedic practices in the United States. In fact, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children was recently named one of the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country for orthopedics by U.S. News and World Report. Ourorthopedic physicians also have been selected as some of the “Best Doctors in America®.” But we never stop learning and trying to make our care even better for children like yours.

To help us gauge how we’re doing and identify areas where we need to make improvements, we keep track of our surgical outcomes (that is, the results of our care). Then, we compare ourselves to the outcomes at other children’s surgical programs across the country.

What Does This Graph Mean?

Here’s how our 2010 orthopedic surgery results for three key outcomes compare to other top children’s surgical programs nationwide:

  • Unplanned return to the operating room (when kids had to have another surgery within 30 days because of problems following their previous operation): Nationwide, far more children had to come back to the operating room — 4% is the national average, versus only 2.6% here.
  • Non-infectious postoperative occurrences (when a child has complications or problems that happen after surgery and may involve the heart, lungs, eating): 2.21% is the rate nationwide, versus our rate of 3.71%.

    Because of our reputation, families come to see us from all over the world. And some of these children are considered highly complex — they may have a chronic medical condition as well as an assortment of other problems, they may be taking multiple medications, or they may be assisted by technology like a breathing machine. In fact, we treat children that many other hospitals turn down.
  • Wound occurrences (when a child has complications with the surgical wound, such as infections): The national rate is 2.47%, compared to our rate of 3.71%.

    Even though we see so many complicated cases and often perform highly technical, specialized procedures, our surgical results are still comparable to other places where there isn’t this same degree of complexity.

Our Excellence in Orthopedic Surgery

We welcome all kids with orthopedic problems — from skeletal dysplasia to bone tumors, limb length problems to scoliosis, spinal dysfunction to sports injuries, cerebral palsy to neuromuscular disorders.

Most of the conditions we treat our highly complex and many of our patients need to see other — sometimes many other — specialists as well. Regardless of how simple or complicated conditions (and their care) might be, our goal is always to improve children’s quality of life — and help kids be kids, no matter what medical condition they’re dealing with.

Whatever orthopedic procedure your child needs, we always strive to keep all complications during and after surgery to a minimum — to treat all of the children we see as if they were our own.

Learn More

Get In-depth Information
KidsHealth.org

Learn about some common orthopedic procedures from Nemours’ experts at KidsHealth.org,the most-visited children’s health website in the world:

Get Insights
Your child. Our promise.

Find out more about our surgical quality care and how we’re leading a national effort to get children’s surgical programs to report their outcomes — to help prevent complications and save lives.

Research at Nemours

Nemours Orthopedics has a large patient population, and any information gathered and analyzed from previous patients will help in ensuring quality care to current and future patients. The research studies underway will help to develop new treatments, evaluate current treatments, improve outcomes for children who have undergone orthopedic procedures and allow patients to benefit from the latest advances in orthopedic care without leaving their community. Many projects listed will aid in the development of new tools to help children increase access to their environment for educational, social and everyday activities.

Center for Orthopedics Research and Development (CORD)

The Center for Orthopedics Research and Development (CORD) is involved in research and development of devices that will assist children with neuromuscular disabilities and orthopedic disorders, including muscular dystrophy (MD), spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), arthrogryposis, spinal cord injury, scoliosis and leg-length discrepancies.

The Department of Orthopedics at Nemours Children’s Clinic, Jacksonville continues to be busy in the area of clinical research. Currently, there are six ongoing research studies related to scoliosis and spine deformity, among other pediatric orthopedic conditions.

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Pennsylvania

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Pediatric Partner Hospitals