Seattle Children's Provider News

Please visit our Access Dashboard – October 2023 to find wait times for many of our ambulatory clinics and a list of conditions considered urgent for scheduling purposes.  We hope this information will support you in making decisions about referring to Seattle Children’s. Algorithms and other clinical care resources for common pediatric conditions are available at seattlechildrens.org/algorithms.

Seattle Children’s physician liaisons are available to assist community providers with questions about patient referrals or other concerns.

Patti Kilburn, Physician Liaison (North Puget Sound)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 206-987-6455

Patti Kilburn contact flyer

Kenton McAllister, Physician Liaison (Eastern and Central Washington, Idaho and Montana)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 206-987-5221

Kenton McAllister contact flyer

Dawn Riley, Physician Liaison (South Puget Sound)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 425-681-8671

Dawn Riley contact flyer

Erin Moya, Physician Relations Director (Alaska)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 425-457-9248

Resource binders for PCPs

Physician Relations now offers three-ring notebooks with hard copies of some of our most popular provider resources, including:

• Regional clinic flyers (these list our available specialties, services and providers by clinic location)
• Age criteria for Seattle Children’s specialty programs
• ED or Urgent Care referral guide
• Referral forms
• Psychiatry – Locations and Services
• EpicCare Link information
• Medication dosage card (pocket size, laminated)
• Algorithms (a selection of the top downloaded algorithms from our website)
• Information about mental health resources
• Guest Services and Financial Assistance programs
• And much more…

Please contact your physician liaison (above) if you are interested in having a notebook for your clinic/office.

 Conferences

• 2023 Epilepsy Symposium, “Improving Pediatric Outcomes: Advances in Diagnosis, Management and Treatment.” Saturday, October 14, 2023. Hear from experts from Seattle Children’s Neurology, Epilepsy, Neurosurgery and Genetics Programs. Medical professionals and caregivers of children with epilepsy are welcome to attend. Registration is required. Learn more.
• AAP Reception in Washington, D.C. Faculty, alumni and friends are invited to join us on Saturday, October 21, 2023, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Marriott Marquis during the AAP conference (Marquis Ballroom, Salon 5). The reception will be co-hosted by Seattle Children’s and University of Washington Department of Pediatrics.

CMEs

• Tried, True and New in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. October 17, 2023, 6 to 7 p.m. (virtual). Category 2 CME. Learn more. Register.
• Common Pediatric Hand Problems: Yours, Mine, Ours. November 8, 2023, 6 to 7 p.m. (virtual). Category 2 CME. Learn more. Register now.

Grand Rounds

Provider Grand Rounds

Year-round on Thursdays from 8 to 9 a.m. Learn more.

• October 5, 2023: Re-Envisioning Safety in the Learning Environment. Justin Bullock, MD, Fellow, Division of Nephrology, University of Washington School of Medicine.
• October 12, 2023: Is Septo-Optic Dysplasia Really a Syndrome? Roger Johnson Ophthalmology Lecture. Mark Borchert, MD, Director, Eye Birth Defects Program, Director, Eye Technology Program, The Vision Center at CHLA; Attending Physician, Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology and Neurology, Keck School of Medicine of USC.
• October 19, 2023: Taking a Community Led and Culturally Grounded Approach to Supporting the Health and Well-being of Indigenous Youth – The 7th Generation Principle. Robert Deisher Adolescent Medicine Lecture. Melanie Nadeau, PhD, MPH, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Graduate Program Director; Assistant Professor, Department of Indigenous Health, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of North Dakota.
• October 26, 2023: Prediction and Prevention: Seeking the Holy Grail of Childhood Cancer Predisposition. Abelson Hematology-Oncology Lecture. David Malkin, MD, FRCPC, Professor, Pediatrics and Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto; CIBC Children’s Foundation Chair, Child Health Research, Oncologist, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Director of the Cancer Genetics program, and Senior Scientist, Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.

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Medical Staff

Elena Brandford, MD, General Anesthesia

Christine Chang, MD, Anesthesiology

Hannah Deming, MD, Bioethics

Caroline Hadley, MD, Neurosurgery

Alexandra Keefe, MD, Genetic Medicine

Deborah Liptzin, MD, Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine

Yusha Liu, MD, Plastic Surgery

Mjaye Mazwi, MD, Critical Care/Cardiology

Hugh Christopher John McGregor, MD, Radiology

Isabella Niu, MD, Endocrinology

Ejiroghene Orubu, MD, MPH, Pediatrics

Tina Keunnan Park, DDS, Orthodontics

Sana Patel, MD, Emergency

Monica Penon Portmann, MD, Genetic Medicine

Andrew Pintea, MD, General Anesthesia

Allied Health Professionals

Olubukayo Akinyemi, ARNP, Child Psychiatry

Caroline Bell, PA-C, Pediatrics

Lauren Bigbee, ARNP, Critical Care

Samantha Borrero, BCBA, Psychology

Francesca Cartee, PA-C, Neonatology

Sheena Friesen, PhD, Psychology

Fransje Slothouber Giles, ARNP, Hematology/Oncology

Harjot Kaur Heer, BCBA, Psychology

Tessa Kolstad, ARNP, Pediatrics

Chelsea Kozikowski, PhD, Psychology

Jennifer Kurtz, ARNP, Neonatology

Chang Liu, LICSW, Psychology

Megan McMahon, PA-C, Neurosurgery

Katherine Munier, ARNP, Neonatology

Maryam Nozari, ARNP, Pediatrics

Amber Persons-Geer, LICSW, Psychology

Erika Rodakowski, ARNP, Critical Care

Alice Schukin, ARNP, Pediatrics

Taylor Shain, ARNP, Pediatrics

Shane Whitehead, PA-C, Hematology/Oncology

Emergency Department and hospital volumes

• Patient volumes in the Emergency Department (ED) are typical for summer; we continue to experience surges and high patient acuity in the ED.
• Hospital census was higher this summer than in typical summers pre-pandemic. Significant planning is occurring to prepare for the fall/winter surge.

COVID-19

• We are beginning to see increased SARS-CoV2 activity as our testing positivity is increasing; we expect rates to further rise with the start of school.

Chemotherapy drug supply

• The national shortage of chemotherapy drugs continues.
• We continue to monitor our supply closely and work with our distributors to ensure we have adequate quantities including methotrexate.
• We are coordinating our efforts regionally and nationally to look for long term solutions to ongoing medication shortages that impact patient care.

Wade Iwata, MSW, is social work supervisor for Seattle Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center

Q: How would you define wraparound services? 

It’s the support we offer to patients within their whole environment. So that’s the patient with their siblings, their parents, their extended family, their school system, and their community. Because cancer just doesn’t affect the child. It pertains to everybody who’s part of their life.

Q: What do you think is the most important thing that Seattle Children’s does for a family that they may not get at another hospital or a cancer center? 

There are a lot of unique benefits at Seattle Children’s that other facilities don’t typically offer.

• For one thing, we have a really large psychosocial team. We have 11 social workers and then two social service specialists who are dedicated specifically to the Cancer and Blood Disorder Center.
• Our social service specialist team is laser focused on concrete needs, like helping families travel from wherever they’re coming from across the country or from across the world, setting up flights, local housing, and really being that support to them in getting to Seattle. They are like a concierge service.
• We provide in-house school services to keep kids engaged and on-track with their learning.
• Families coming from far away feel like they have a connection here, somebody who is on their side really working to support them.

Q: If a family doesn’t have this kind of support, what is that impact to the care or their outcome, potentially?

I think the social work team in particular has a huge impact on outcomes for kids. Our medical teams of doctors and nurses and others do an amazing job of addressing the medical issues patients are facing. We are here to address everything else: the emotional side of things, the school side of things, trying to create as normal of a life as we possibly can.

These kids are plucked out of their everyday life and brought into a new world and a new system. It’s emotionally and physically traumatic for them. Our work is to process that with them and support not only the patients but also their families, their siblings, their caregivers. Just helping them to address this new situation that they’re facing. And I think this support improves outcomes that are huge for the families because, while they know they’re getting great medical care, the emotional toll of having a child diagnosed with cancer is immense. And we need to process that with them and help support them through that process.

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We hope to see you at What’s New in Medicine (WNIM) on September 8 and 9, 2023. This annual continuing medical education conference brings together medical professionals from across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and even Canada to hear from dozens of speakers on hot topics in healthcare. If you can’t attend in person, consider our virtual and recorded options.

WNIM includes a day-long track on Pediatrics featuring speakers from Seattle Children’s. Other tracks include Infectious Diseases (Friday, September 8) and Internal Medicine (parallel track to Pediatrics offered on Saturday, September 9)

CME credits: Up to 24 Category 1 CME credits are available (8 on Friday, 16 on Saturday).

Participation options: WNIM allows either in-person, livestream, or recorded participation.  If you register for all three sessions ($300), you can attend two in-person or virtually and then capture the third online (recorded) for up to one year after the conference. If you select only one day ($170), you can select any one of the three sessions either in-person, livestream or recorded.  However, your selection must be done beforehand, and space is limited for those planning to be in-person.   Regardless, your selection can be viewed up until a year later, as all sessions will be recorded.

For more information: Learn more at whatsnewinmedicine.org, or register at the attendee registration page. Questions? Email [email protected] or contact Seattle Children’s physician liaison Kenton McAllister at [email protected].

Agenda: All sessions are listed below. View the full brochure.

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Seattle Children’s is prioritizing making it easier for families to access care, especially in clinics with high demand and long wait times. This work includes making wait times more transparent to both families and referring providers.

We are pleased to tell you about some of the recent changes we have made and improvements that are in the works for the coming year.

Making the most of every available appointment slot

Thirteen Seattle Children’s specialties recently undertook a four- to six-month overhaul of their scheduling systems to optimize appointments scheduled. These include Endocrinology, Adolescent Medicine, Nephrology, Otolaryngology, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and others. As a result:

• Appointment slots are now filled more efficiently, with fewer appointments going unfilled
• Families can self-schedule for the first time
• If a sooner appointment becomes available, families are automatically notified

Today, families who use MyChart’s self-schedule feature are typically being seen 20 to 50 days sooner on average.

Reducing the number of missed appointments

New tools have helped us correctly identify families who are more likely to miss an appointment and then step in to offer additional support. In 2023 to date, we have averted more than 8,000 missed appointments. Assistance usually takes the form of transportation help, childcare services at the hospital or clinic or switching the appointment from in-person to telehealth.

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New resources from the Autism Center

We invite you to explore the Autism Center’s newly revamped online resources for patients and families. Many new resources have been added this year. Most resources are now available in both English and Spanish.

A new section of Spanish language resources includes an 11-part video series featuring Seattle Children’s subject matter experts, educational ombudspeople and families across Washington state discussing a range of topics in modules that range from 11 to 39 minutes. All videos except the first, “¿Qué es el autismo? (What is autism?),” are new this year.

Referral policy changes

Effective August 21, Seattle Children’s will no longer redirect referrals internally to the Autism Center when they are initially submitted to Speech, Psychiatry, Neurodevelopmental, Neurosciences or other ambulatory clinics. Instead, the referral will be closed and a notification sent to the referring provider to submit a new referral directly to the Autism Center.

This change will help ensure that all referrals to the Autism Center have a longer shelf-life for scheduling purposes (that is unique to the Autism Center) and that patients enter Autism’s scheduling queue as promptly as possible. Learn more about referral guidelines for the Autism Center.

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A new program for children with tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) and esophageal atresia (EA) is now part of the hospital’s Airway and Esophageal Center that opened earlier this year.

TEF and EA services are not new to Seattle Children’s but are now integrated within a multidisciplinary program that offers expanded clinic hours and assistance from a program coordinator who helps families experience the best journey and outcomes possible. The TEF/EA Program provides not just surgery but also comprehensive follow-up care throughout childhood until patients transition to adult care.  It is the only program of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.

What to look for: Symptoms of TEF and EA in babies

• TEF and EA: Breathing problems and coughing or choking when the baby tries to swallow. The symptoms show up right after birth.
• TEF only: Severe coughing or choking when the baby tries to swallow, usually after feeding. Some babies may have trouble breathing while feeding. If the patient has TEF alone, it may be weeks or months after birth before TEF is diagnosed as the cause of symptoms.  
• EA only: The baby is not swallowing their saliva, is drooling a lot or has foamy mucus in their mouth or nose. Most often, EA alone is diagnosed before or right after birth.

See our new Case Study: Tracheoesophageal Fistula (1.5-Year-Old Patient with Difficult Swallowing and Recurrent Respiratory Infections).

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Please visit our Access Dashboard – September 2023 to find wait times for many of our ambulatory clinics and a list of conditions considered urgent for scheduling purposes.  We hope this information will support you in making decisions about referring to Seattle Children’s.  Algorithms and other clinical care resources for common pediatric conditions are available at seattlechildrens.org/algorithms.

Read full post »