Department Reports
Adolescent Medicine
The Division of Adolescent Medicine provides expert consultation, diagnosis and treatment for conditions commonly seen during adolescence. These include mental health disorders, sexually transmitted diseases such as human papillomavirus, eating disorders, substance abuse, obesity, chronic fatigue syndrome and general adolescent psychosocial and learning issues. Upon request, members of the division also provide medical consultation for Seattle Children’s Hospital patients with conditions such as chronic musculoskeletal pain, gynecologic issues and somatoform disorders.
In the inpatient setting, providers coordinate closely with services such as nutrition and child psychiatry to ensure a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. Patients are seen as outpatients upon referral to the Adolescent Medicine Clinic, the Eating Disorders Clinic, the Biofeedback Clinic, the Reflex Neurovascular Dystrophy Clinic and the Adolescent Gynecology Clinic. When appropriate, patients are seen in the outpatient setting in consultation by members of our multidisciplinary team, which includes physical and occupational therapists, social workers and chemical dependency professionals. Physicians and nurse practitioners in the division provide medical consultation for all patients with eating disorders who are admitted to the medical and psychiatric units.
Members of Adolescent Medicine are committed to providing treatment for underserved adolescents in the community. They also see patients at the Country Doctor Homeless Teen Clinic, which incorporates complementary and alternative medicine with acupuncture, massage and naturopathy. An additional clinic at the King County Juvenile Detention Center serves as a training site for pediatric and family medicine residents. Division providers also serve as consultants for patients at Harborview Medical Center and as attendings in the Children and Teens Clinic and the Public Health Seattle & King County STD Clinic.
The Division of Adolescent Medicine is committed to education of many levels of trainees and maintains an accredited adolescent medicine fellowship program to help train adolescent medicine leaders for the region and the nation. Researchers in the Division of Adolescent Medicine are involved in studying mental health issues, substance abuse, ADHD and sexually transmitted diseases. They are working to improve understanding and treatment for conditions that disproportionately affect adolescents.