What's "Unscientific" at the U-M Hospitals and Health Center.

Posted: Sep 23, 2012 at 2:39 PM [Sep 23, 2012]

 

The U-M Hospitals and Health Centers has a fascination with U.S. News and World Report and their unscientific survey grades of their medical center. 

 

I am amazed by the assumption of this magazine's credibility which carries no weight in academic circles.

 

When I was being schooled in journalism, we were taught that U.S. News and World Report is equvalent to Reader's Digest and is sold in the grocery checkout aisle next to the gossip magazines and the Police Gazette.

 

A few years ago, U.S. News and World Report was accused of falsifying their survey results in favor of an investor or an advertiser.

 

The surveys are un-scientific and their purpose is to sell magazines.  The publication is only seen on newsstands on an irregular basis.

 

This year, the U-M HHC dropped a notch in their ranking by the magazine which was explained by the hospital V-P to be a correction in survey information evaluation. 

 

Does this mean the past data that ranked the U-M near the top was incorrect?

 

The immodest boasting of the current and past survey data by the U-M HHC is not a characteristic of a "World Class University." 

 

I have brought this to the hospital's attention and they apparently feel the positive publicity is more important than a creditable source.

 

The irony is the U-M is the home of the highly-respected Survey Research Center (SRC) which they fail to utilize.

 

Oh, the disease is spreading.  The Ann Arbor Public Schools uses U.S. News and World Report survey data to support their excellence.

 

The moral: when someone in the media makes a comment about an organization, confirm the source. And then decide whether its value is worth repeating.

 

When have you seen the Cleveland Clinic or John Hopkins Hospital celebrating their rankings by U.S. News and World Report?  That's right, you don't..

 

It's embarrassing.