Seattle Children's Provider News

Flyer: Psychiatry and Autism Center services by location

Seattle Children’s provides a wide range of psychiatry and behavioral health services for youth at the main hospital campus, North Clinic in Everett, South Clinic in Federal Way, Seattle Children’s Magnuson and via telehealth.

To help healthcare providers understand at a glance what services are available where, we have created an Autism Center and Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Service Locations flyer.

Questions about referring your patient? Seattle Children’s Psychiatry triage team is available to answer providers’ questions about referrals, including the status of a referral that has already been submitted, our services that are currently available and wait times for our services and locations. Contact our PBM Referral Intake Team at 206-987-2164, option 2, or email [email protected]. Our goal is to help you find the appropriate care for your patient, either at Seattle Children’s or elsewhere.

Read full post »

Conferences

• 18th Annual Pediatric Bioethics Conference, July 20 to 22, hosted by the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics. Can criteria such as citizenship, cognitive disabilities, mental health or the absence of social support be used to decide who qualifies for a transplant? Should children be prioritized over adults for transplant? We’ll tackle these subjects and more at the 18th Annual Pediatric Bioethics Conference at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle. Join us a day early on July 20th for our inaugural nursing bioethics conference “Pediatric Bioethics at the Point of Care: A Critical Examination of Ethical Issues in Pediatric Nursing” hosted by Seattle Children’s Center for Pediatric Nursing Research. Learn more. 

CMEs

• Updates on Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases for the General Practitioner. May 6, 2023, 8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (virtual). Learn more. Register.
• Epilepsy Surgery in Children. May 18, 2023, 6 to 7 p.m. (virtual). Category 2 CME. Learn more and register.

• Pediatric Mental Health CME. A free child mental health education virtual conference hosted by the Partnership Access Line (PAL). Register here. Learn more.

  Read full post »

Medical Staff

Sarah, Gabriel Elias, MD, Anesthesia

Morgan, Rachel C., MD, Community Pediatrics (active community medical staff)

Martin, Jan Anderson, MD, Neurology

Ariel Elizabeth Garcia, MD, community Pediatrics (active community medical staff)

Read full post »

Updated Masking Policy

Seattle Children’s is continuing to require masking in all clinical areas and public-facing areas of the hospital and our clinics, following the April 3 conclusion of Washington state’s order requiring universal masking in healthcare facilities. Seattle Children’s, along with many of our healthcare peers, signed onto a letter from the Northwest Healthcare Response Network in support of continued masking.  Seattle Children’s masking requirement applies to patients, families, visitors and workforce members. Masking will be optional in Seattle Children’s nonclinical buildings and non-public-facing areas of our clinical buildings.

Our visitor policies were updated effective April 3 to allow more visitors at the bedside. Details are available on our website.

Code Yellow Deactivated

Seattle Children’s deactivated its Code Yellow for high census and hospital capacity constraints, effective March 15, 2023. This is the first time in years that Seattle Children’s is not in active Code Yellow.

Very High Patient Volumes in the ED

Despite having little to no RSV/flu activity, the Emergency Department (ED) continues to see high patient volumes and broke previous all-time records for March.  We are continuing to see very high mental/behavioral health volumes in the ED. We also continue to experience fluctuations in inpatient census. We are using the processes and operational improvements established during the Code Yellow period to manage patient flows.

ED Communication Center Is Now Part of Mission Control

Seattle Children’s recently formed a new Mission Control office that brings together multiple teams, including the former ED Communication Center, to improve and streamline our processes for patient admissions, discharges and transfers.

When sending patients to the ED or requesting direct admission to the hospital, please continue to call first: 206-987-8899 (formerly the ED Communication Center; now Mission Control). Your call will help us anticipate staffing needs and plan for your patient’s arrival.

Seattle Children’s is proud to announce the opening of a new Airway and Esophageal Center serving babies, children and teens through age 20. The center provides seamless, multidisciplinary care from a highly experienced team of experts for patients who have complex conditions affecting their airway, breathing and swallowing.

“Due to these patients’ complexity and need for care from many different specialists throughout their childhood, it’s essential they receive well-coordinated care from experts who are working as an integrated team and communicating regularly,” says Dr. Jake Dahl, an otolaryngologist at the center. “We have created the Airway and Esophageal Center expressly for that purpose, with care coordination and wraparound services built in to ensure our patients don’t just survive, they thrive.”

This highest level of continuous, comprehensive specialty care for children with challenging airway and esophageal issues is unique to Seattle Children’s regionally and hard to find even nationally.

Multidisciplinary Care

The Airway and Esophageal Center team includes experts from many Seattle Children’s specialties: otolaryngology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, sleep medicine, maxillofacial surgery, pediatric surgery, anesthesiology, speech and language pathology, nutrition, feeding therapy, social work, nursing, newborn critical care and pediatric intensive care. Read full post »

Robin Glass is an occupational therapist and lactation consultant at Seattle Children’s with over 40 years of experience. She also holds a clinical faculty appointment in the Occupational Therapy Program at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. In addition to her patient care on the Infant Team serving inpatient and outpatient infants <1 year old, she is a national and international speaker on infant feeding and swallowing. She has numerous publications, including the seminal book Feeding and Swallowing Disorders in Infancy: Assessment and Management with co-author Lynn Wolf. She was a 2015 recipient of the National Association of Neonatal Therapists Pioneer award and received the 2018 Dr. Nancy Danoff Spirit of Service award from the Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington and Nutrition First.

Primary care providers (PCPs) frequently encounter questions from parents regarding their infants’ feeding. PCPs also observe issues with growth that may result from feeding difficulties. In a brief office visit, providers may find it challenging to identify infant feeding and swallowing disorders. In this article, Seattle Children’s occupational therapist and lactation consultant Robin Glass addresses common concerns PCPs might see related to infant feeding and swallowing difficulties and describes methods of evaluation and treatment. She also offers guidance on referring to a Seattle Children’s specialist.

Read full post »

In Part 1 of our Epilepsy Q&A, we asked neurosurgeon Dr. Jay Hauptman how brain surgery for epilepsy has evolved in recent years and why major brain surgery for infant Jiana was his first choice for treating her epilepsy. In Part 2 next month we will hear from Dr. Hauptman and Dr. Ghayda Mirzaa about how patients are benefitting from new treatments derived from genetic research underway at Seattle Children’s and the Center for Integrative Brain Research.

“The brain surgery of today is completely different than the brain surgery of 20 years ago. And our understanding of epilepsy is completely different than it was 20 years ago. And because of that, our treatments have become so much better, so much more tailored and so much more effective.” – Dr. Jay Hauptman

Q: Can you explain why a more significant surgery on a young child with epilepsy may be a better approach than a more conservative surgery?

There are a lot of things that we have learned in the last 20 years that have taught us that being aggressive, going for cure, is perhaps the most important thing in the management of epilepsy in children. We know from studies that were done quite some time ago that when children are on two antiseizure medicines — it doesn’t even matter which two those are, they can be the oldest ones that we have in history of epilepsy medicines or the newest ones that just came out of a clinical trial in the last year — and they continue to have seizures, the likelihood of a third or a fourth medicine ending their epilepsy is near zero, less than 5%. Read full post »

Gastroenterology (GI) has approximately 3,000 referrals waiting to be scheduled, with limited appointment slots available to see new patients. This means nonurgent general GI referrals without red flags, including constipation (which is one of the more common referrals received by GI), are currently scheduling three to five months out.

While GI is continuing to accept patient referrals for constipation at this time, program leaders are encouraging PCPs to manage their patients with constipation in primary care whenever possible and appropriate to ensure the most timely care. This also helps Seattle Children’s maintain access for patients who most need specialty care.

To assist PCPs in caring for patients with constipation, Seattle Children’s offers a detailed functional constipation clinical protocol and algorithm on our website. In addition, the GI Refer a Patient webpage offers:

• Guidelines for families, including education materials to help understand and manage their child’s constipation
• Parent booklet about constipation from St. Louis Children’s
• Dosage Tables

• • Polyethylene Glycol (MiraLAX) Dosage Table
  • Severe or Chronic Constipation: Polyethylene Glycol (MiraLAX) Dosage Table
  • Chronic Constipation Treatment 3-Day Cleanout and Maintenance Dosing Tables
• Bowel Cleanout and Maintenance Program at a Glance

Patients with constipation who have red flags (see protocol and/or algorithm) or who have attempted the treatment protocol without success are appropriate to be seen by GI and should be referred. Please clearly describe the treatment that has been tried already to help us properly triage and schedule your patient.

The Seattle Children’s GI team acknowledges the excellent work of PCPs in the community who are managing constipation in primary care and encourage you to let us know if there are ways we can improve the resources we are providing (above) in support of your care.

The large number of referrals to Otolaryngology in recent months has lengthened the wait times for new patient visits to two to three months. Otolaryngology is actively triaging referrals. To help reduce wait times and ensure patients can be seen in a timely manner, we may redirect some patients back to their PCP if that is a more appropriate setting for their care.

Algorithms are available to assist community providers in managing patients with many of the conditions commonly referred to Otolaryngology, including:

• Acute Otitis Media
• Acute Otitis Media With Treatment Failure
• Recurrent Acute Otitis Media
• Chronic Otitis Media
• Acute Pharyngitis
• Recurrent Pharyngitis
• Chronic Sinusitis (Chronic Rhinitis/Chronic Nasal Drainage)
• Acute Sinusitis
• Tonsillar Hypertrophy

Otolaryngology’s referral guidelines are located on our website. They offer additional details about referring to Seattle Children’s when your patient is experiencing conditions such as ear infection, sinusitis, strep throat, sore throat, and hypernasal resonance.

OCD Intensive Outpatient Program Now Has Openings for New Referrals

Seattle Children’s Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) is once again being offered in person and is open for referrals. Offered at Seattle Children’s Magnuson building across from Magnuson Park, the program offers evidence-based cognitive behavior treatment for children and teens ages 11 to 18 (or older if they are still in high school). Participants must already be diagnosed with OCD and anxiety and not been able to make progress in regular outpatient treatment. To refer a patient, please write “OCD IOP evaluation” for the quickest routing within Psychiatry.

For more information, view the OCD-IOP program flyer, which includes detailed referral criteria.

4 FAST Trainings in April and May

The First Approach Skills Training (FAST) team is offering live, interactive trainings for managing common youth mental health conditions. FAST programs are designed to provide brief, evidence-based behavioral therapy for youth and families in primary care clinics and other settings where long-term treatment is not usually offered. The training is free.

• April 4: 9 to 11 a.m. – FAST-Depression (learn more and register)
• April 18: 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. – FAST-Trauma (learn more and register)
• May 9: 9 to 11 a.m. – FAST-Parenting Teens (learn more and register)
• May 16: 9 to 11 a.m. – FAST-Early Childhood Concerns (learn more and register)

Providers can learn more about FAST and access free assessment tools for initial screening, treatment planning and progress monitoring on the FAST website. Program materials were developed by a team of child and adolescent psychologists with funding support from the Washington State Healthcare Authority. Please direct any questions to [email protected].

4 Free “Finding Mental Health” Classes for Families, April–July

Nationally, one in five children and teens has a treatable mental health disorder, and half of these are not receiving help from a mental health professional. “Finding Mental Health Care in Washington State” is a free two-part class series from Seattle Children’s focused on educating families about resources outside of Seattle Children’s to help families connect to care as quickly as possible. Classes are 30 minutes. Families do not need to take Part 1 to take Part 2. Registration is required. Video recordings of the classes, without Q&A, are available on our website in English and Spanish.

• April 19: Part 1 – Outpatient Services (English)
• May 17: Part 1 – Outpatient Services (Spanish)
• June 21: Part 2 – Higher-Level Services (English)
• July 19: Part 2 – Higher-Level Services (Spanish)

Please share this class information with any families who may be interested. More information is available on our website.

“You Are a Miracle”: One Patient’s Journey With an Eating Disorder

Read the inspiring story of 19-year-old Emme’s personal experience at Seattle Children’s, in her own words — from diagnosis to ongoing recovery and the lessons she learned along the way.

Emme’s story reminds us that early intervention and treatment are effective, recovery is possible and many people live healthy, fulfilling lives when they get the right help.

Seattle Children’s Eating Disorders Recovery Program diagnoses and treats children and teens with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders. All patients referred to the program will receive a one-time telehealth visit with either a medical provider, psychologist or mental health therapist depending on their needs. If you are referring a patient, please review our eating disorder referral guidelines.

New Handout for Families: “5 Most Common ADHD Questions Asked by Parents”

The 5 Most Common ADHD Questions Asked by Parents, written by Seattle Children’s Erin Gonzalez, PhD, addresses common questions from concerned caregivers and parents. It discusses ways to support children with ADHD, school resources and answers common questions about medications. Gonzalez provides links to many ADHD resources for parents and caregivers, including Seattle Children’s videos and classes.

We encourage providers to share this article with patient families who may be concerned about their child with ADHD.

Reminder: Seattle Children’s Mental Health Hub Is a Resource for Providers and Families

Additional resources on common pediatric mental health concerns are available at Seattle Children’s mental health resources hub. To let patients and families know about these resources, print and share our Mental Health Hub flyer, available in both English and Spanish.