Quality and Outcomes Reports - Orthopedics
Average Unadjusted Length of Stay by Diagnosis
Why we measure it - We realize the importance of discharging a child from the hospital as soon as possible. The average time a child is in the hospital depends on many factors including how serious the illness or injury. Medical therapies can have a significant impact on recovery and length of hospital stay.

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What this means - Children's Hospital has a lower average length of stay for certain diagnoses compared to our PHIS peers while providing the highest quality of care as demonstrated by our survival rates.
About the data - The graph reflects the average number of days a child stays at Children's Hospital after surgery, depending on the diagnosis, compared to Pediatric Hospital Information System peers. PHIS hospitals represent other leading free-standing pediatric hospitals.
Related dimensions of care:
What we're doing to provide the best care:
- Our goal is to manage scoliosis without surgery. However, when surgery is needed, orthopedic surgeons at Children's Hospital use the most advanced techniques, including a fairly new procedure that dramatically reduces recovery time from months to days.
- We use the Ponseti casting technique to treat clubfoot, which shows better long-term outcomes while in most cases avoiding surgery.
- We have a pediatric orthopedic nurse clinician who coordinates inpatient stays, discharge planning and follow-up clinic visits.
- Orthopedic staff are involved in basic science and clinical research including:
- Improving ways of mapping the spine to monitor scoliosis without using X-rays.
- Growth modulation devices to correct scoliosis without fusion.
- We hold a surgical support group every other month for children needing scoliosis surgery. A multidisciplinary medical team offers information about the surgery and what to expect while in the hospital, and past surgical patients talk about their experiences. The meeting is followed by a tour of the surgery area and a patient room.
Patients and families:
- Be an advocate for your child. Participate in daily bedside clinical discussions, and provide any information about your child that may be helpful to staff.
- Follow medical instructions fully and carefully before and after surgery.
- Ask questions if you don't understand the plan of care or if you are not sure how to care for your child at home.
- Attend any and all follow-up appointments.
Referring physicians:
- Referring physicians can access our specialists for consultation or transport 24 hours a day. Call our physician referral line at (800) 266-0366.
- Forward any needed patient documentation, including test results, to the specialty doctor's office prior to the patient's visit.
- Health care providers from outside of our southeastern Wisconsin service area are encouraged to use our web-based
e-Consult service. This service is available for non-urgent patient cases only and gives providers access to our specialists to review patient cases, obtain medical advice or second opinions, and receive care recommendations for rare symptoms and illnesses.
e-Consult is not to be used by the general public, parents/guardians or families. - Care guidelines for medical professionals
- Educational materials
- Pocket Directory
If you have questions about this data or information, email us or call (414) 266-6556.


