Consumer Choice
For the 14th straight year, the National Research Corporation has given The Johns Hopkins Hospital its Consumer Choice Award for the Baltimore region. For 2009-2010, Hopkins also was rated as the top choice by consumers in the Bethesda, Md., area. The award is based on ratings from health care consumers, who assessed hospitals based on four metrics: best overall quality, best image/reputation, best doctors and best nurses.

On the H1N1 Offense
Hopkins Hospital and the health system are ramping up precautions to thwart H1N1. Because the illness is more common in the pediatric population, the hospital and its affiliates have made temporary changes to visitation guidelines to reduce risk to patients with already strained immune systems. Unless they are patients, children under age 16 are temporarily restricted from all inpatient care areas. And children under 18, unless they are patients, are temporarily restricted from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Common sense rules: Get vaccinated. If you have flulike symptoms—cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, fatigue—don’t visit patients. Cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze. Wash hands often with soap or use antibacterial gel. Avoid close contact with sick people. And if you’re sick, stay home. Info: hopkinsmedicine.org/flu or hopkinsmedicine.org/heic/h1n1.