Starting today, Seattle Children’s is offering appointments to children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years (under 6 years old) to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, based on recent approvals from the CDC, Washington State Department of Health and the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup. We are grateful to be able to offer COVID-19 vaccines to young patients.
Read full post »
Our Emergency Department (ED) continues to experience very high patient volumes. We are practicing in a crisis mode almost every day with volumes routinely as much as 50% higher than anticipated and sometime over 200% capacity. Children are coming in for a variety of reasons such as COVID-19, many other viruses, mental health concerns and our usual significant childhood illnesses and injuries. Our ED capacity is further constrained by the everyday occurrence of boarding patients and ED construction. Please continue to identify and manage low acuity complaints in outpatient settings to help maintain our limited capacity in the ED for higher acuity concerns. When referring a patient to the ED please call our Communications Center at 206-987-8899. It is helpful to inform your families that wait times may be longer than expected and that our increased number of provider staff are working hard to see all patients as quickly as possible.
Please contact Tony Woodward, ED Medical Director and Division Chief for any suggestions, questions or concerns.
Our urgent care (UC) clinics are also experiencing high volumes. Reminding families to schedule a same day UC appointment as early as possible will help them with timely access. They can use the UC online scheduling system or call the hospital’s main number 206-987-2000.
Please refer to “Emergency or Urgent Care?” for general triage guidance to the ED vs UC.
June Is Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) Month
Dr. Fechner is the medical director of the Seattle Children’s CAH Center of Excellence, a Level 1 Comprehensive Care Center for CAH designated by the CARES Foundation. She is also the Washington State Department of Health Newborn Screening Program pediatric endocrinology consultant.
Read full post »
Around 1 in 10 people will have a seizure in their lifetime. Not every person who has a seizure goes on to develop a seizure disorder; sometimes it’s an isolated event. But even if a child only has a single seizure in their lifetime, it can be extraordinarily alarming for them and their family. “I have had families describe the experience as frightening, confusing, or even traumatizing,” says Dr. Priya Monrad, pediatric epileptologist and director of Inpatient Neurosciences at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Read full post »
Seattle Children’s has created two new algorithms to assist community providers who are referring their patients with syncope or dizziness. Patients may be referred to Neurology, Cardiology or Otolaryngology depending on their symptoms.
Read full post »
Our Heart Center has updated its website to better facilitate a smooth referral process for community providers and their patients. The updated guidelines provide our current wait times (five days or less for urgent referrals and up to a few weeks for non-urgent ones) and information about where to send the referral since referrals should be submitted to the Heart Center clinic location where the patient would like to be seen (this is different than most Seattle Children’s clinics).
Read full post »
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new intensive outpatient program (IOP) at Seattle Children’s for patients with eating disorders. The Eating Disorders IOP is designed for children and youth with high-acuity eating disorders who don’t require inpatient care but need more than typical outpatient care can provide.
Read full post »
Seattle Children’s Therapeutics has opened a new study that will evaluate the safety and feasibility of CAR T-cell immunotherapy in patients with bone cancer. The ENLIGHTen-01 study is approved for patients ages 15 to 30 years old who have refractory or progressive osteosarcoma. It is Seattle Children’s first study of CAR T-cell therapy for this patient population.
Read full post »
