Patient Care

In December 2012, Seattle Children’s became the first (and for now, the only) place in the nation that offers physical therapists an accredited fellowship in neonatology. For seasoned pediatric physical therapists who want to work with the tiniest, most fragile babies, the fellowship offers a unique opportunity for training.

In December, the American Board of Physical Therapy Residency and Fellowship Education (the credentialing arm of the American Physical Therapy Association, or APTA) accredited the neonatology fellowship, which is a partnership between Children’s and Rocky Mountain University of the Health Professions (RMUoHP) in Provo, Utah.

The fellowship, which focuses on babies from birth to 12 months of age, combines six academic credits at RMUoHP with 1,000 hours of mentored clinical training at Children’s. Read full post »

One of the biggest surprises new parents face is just how relentlessly a normal, healthy infant can cry during their first few months of life. This crying can lead people to question their fitness as parents, raise unnecessary concerns about their child’s wellbeing and result in overwhelming feelings of anger, frustration and guilt.

Research shows that bouts of prolonged, unrelenting crying is the No. 1 reason parents – and other caregivers – shake a baby. Shaken baby syndrome can cause blindness, seizures, physical and learning disabilities, and even death.

Thankfully, research also has shown that simply understanding the normal pattern of infant crying and learning a few coping skills significantly reduces the likelihood that a child will be shaken or abused. Read full post »

On the Pulse recently posted a story on bioethics and research from Ben Wilfond, MD. In that story, Wilfond defended a research study that had been criticized by federal officials over the informed-consent requirements. We thought it would be helpful to follow up with tips for parents who are interested in or have children enrolled in research studies. This is the first in what we hope will be a series on the topic, with both parents and researchers weighing in, to increase awareness about research at Seattle Children’s.

As biomedical researchers, my husband and I are both very invested in the research process. Our daughter, Katelyn, has a disease that is incurable, but we are optimistic that her participation in various research studies could have a positive impact on not only her life, but also on the lives of other children in the future. Nevertheless, we take each opportunity to participate in a study under thoughtful consideration before signing our consent.

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The Washington State Department of Health has designated the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Seattle Children’s Hospital as a Level IV regional NICU, which is the highest level of care available for critically ill newborns. Seattle Children’s is the first hospital in Washington state to receive this designation.

The new designation of Seattle Children’s NICU follows the recent revision of the state’s Perinatal and Neonatal Level of Care Guidelines by the Department of Health in February 2013. The revision is in line with the updated American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) standards for NICUs that were outlined in September 2012.

The guidelines define four levels of care: normal newborn nursery (level I), special care nursery for premature and mildly ill newborns (level II), neonatal intensive care for very premature and critically ill newborns that sometimes offer select surgical procedures (level III), and regional NICU with comprehensive services to treat all medical and surgical problems of newborns (level IV). Read full post »

You can’t blame Patient #1 for not wanting to share his name; he’d rather not be known as the guy who swallowed poop in the name of science.

But he does want you to know he is willing to go to extremes to help find a cure for Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes severe abdominal symptoms and robs his body of nutrients.

It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Fecal microbiota transplantation (that’s right – fecal, as in feces, as in poop) is a tried-and-true treatment for recurrent bouts of Clostridium difficile infection (or C. diff), a dangerous intestinal bacteria.

It works by repopulating the intestinal tract with “good” bacteria, which are often wiped out by the antibiotics used as the first line of defense against C. diff. Read full post »

Dishes, silverware, small appliances, sheets, towels. Home essentials like these appear on nearly all wedding gift registries. But for Shaquita Bell, MD, a primary care pediatrician at Seattle Children’s, and her fiance, Marc Stamm Boyer, giving their wedding guests a wish list of stuff for themselves just didn’t feel right.

“We are at a point in our lives where we have the things we need and the things we want,” says Boyer. “It seemed silly to say, ‘Hey, you know how we have all this silverware? We should totally get some more.’”

But knowing that guests might insist on giving a gift, they put their heads together to come up with another option: “registering” for donations to Seattle Children’s.

“If our guests want to spend money on our wedding, we’d rather it go toward something inherently good,” says Boyer. Read full post »

When a child is sick, needs a vaccination or gets bumped or bruised, most parents don’t hesitate to make a trip to the doctor’s office. But what happens when a child’s feeling blue, overly anxious or struggling to focus in school? This month, in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, doctors offer tips for parents to keep kids mentally and emotionally well, and explain what to do when there’s a problem.

Carol M. Rockhill, MD, PhD, and Ian M. Kodish, MD, PhD, child and adolescent psychiatrists at Seattle Children’s Hospital, say first and foremost, we need to relearn the way we view mental health.

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In a northern California suburb in 1999, Kaitlin Burns was born very sick, that much was certain. She was extremely lethargic, vomited non-stop and soon wouldn’t eat anything. When her family finally received a diagnosis two weeks after her birth, the news was devastating.

Kaitlin was diagnosed with propionic acidemia, a rare, inherited metabolic disorder that affects about one in 100,000 in the United States. Propionic acidemia prevents the body from processing protein properly, leading to an abnormal buildup of a group of acids known as organic acids. Abnormal levels of organic acids in the blood, urine and tissues can be toxic and can cause serious health problems.

Michelle Burns, Kaitlin’s mother, recalls how the local hospital at the time was their second home. “During the first year of her life, I can’t even count on my fingers and toes how many trips we made,” she explains.

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The days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer and kids are spending more time outdoors. It is spring time – a season for hiking, grilling, gardening and outdoor fun. But with spring also comes the occasional bump, bruise, bite, rash and fall. How can parents help their kids avoid injury?

Tony Woodward, MD, MBA, medical director of the division of emergency medicine at Seattle Children’s Hospital, offers advice for keeping kids healthy and out of the emergency room.

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More heads are better than one—especially when it comes to designing Seattle Children’s new expansion, Building Hope. Children’s brought together a unique advisory board made up of patients, families and hospital staff to provide feedback throughout the design process.

With Building Hope, Children’s wanted to create an environment that would support the physical, emotional and psychological aspects of healing. Who better to understand the subtleties of the patient experience than actual patients and their families?

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