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

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.