The University of Arizona Medical Center has once again been recognized as one of the top 10 teaching hospitals in the country by being given a Quality Leadership award.

The University HealthSystem Consortium ranked UAMC ninth out of 101 non-profit academic medical centers in an annual analysis. UHS measured the center’s effective inpatient care, efficiency and safety.

“What it means to me is that we, as a medical center, are on the right track with one of our primary goals, which is to provide one of the highest quality care for all patients that come to us,” said Andreas Theodorou, chief medical officer of UAMC.

This recognition helps validate the care and services UAMC offers to patients, not only within the community, but throughout all of Tucson. That’s why UAMC strives to give their patients the best, he added.

The consortium compares UAMC with other academic medical centers based on the services that are offered, such as having a level I trauma center, a transplant organ center and a robotic heart surgery program.

“These things are primarily found at academic medical centers,” Theodorou said. “The UHC award compares us to other programs around the country that provide similar services.”

Patients who come for those services often have a unique set of needs and a unique set of risks, he added.

It takes thousands of employees, including doctors, nurses, pharmacists and technologists, to provide patients with good outcomes and the ability to focus on continually delivering high quality care, said Vicki Began, chief nursing officer and vice president for Patient Care Services.

“It’s a team sport,” Theodorou said. “If everybody does their particular contribution well, in the end, it’s good news for the patients.”

For Theodorou, it’s not about receiving an award or recognition that matters, but receiving a letter from a patient that describes their experience and how thankful they are for the help they received, he said.

“That’s really the award we are after,” Theodorou said. “That is what I value the most.”

In previous years, UAMC has been named in the top 10 teaching hospitals in the country several times. Receiving this continued honor only helps better the reputation of the center by allowing people around the country to know that the center has been highly recognized as an organization, he added.

“I’m very proud of all the members on our team, not because of the award but because of what it means to our patients,” Theodorou said.