Facts
Founded in 1907, Seattle Children's Hospital provides excellent patient care with compassion and respect, and conducts leading-edge pediatric research. The hospital also serves as an educational resource for patients, families and healthcare professionals.
Ranked as one of the top ten children's hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report, Children's serves as the pediatric referral center for Washington, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.
In addition to nearly 60 subspecialty areas from adolescent medicine to virology, Children's provides comprehensive care through day surgery, outpatient clinics, 24-hour emergency services and urgent after-hours care.
Networks of regional critical care ground and air transport bring patients to Children's from community hospitals located throughout the region. The hospital services also include childcare, social work, pastoral care, interpreter services, respiratory therapy, nutritional care, occupational therapy, speech therapy and physical therapy.
Children's uses a modified version of Toyota Lean Process Improvement which is called Continuous Performance Improvement (CPI) to evaluate and improve healthcare from the patient and family point of view. Our work is about improving the quality of our care and service, our cost-effectiveness and financial strength, access to specialists, the safety of our environment and the engagement of our people.
As the primary pediatric training site for the University of Washington School of Medicine, Children's provides broad clinical experiences for more than 683 residents and fellows each year.
Through work at Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute and partnerships with the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Children's is at the forefront of leading-edge pediatric treatment, prevention and research.
Our Mission
We believe all children have unique needs and should grow up without illness or injury. With the support of the community and through our spirit of inquiry, we will prevent, treat, and eliminate pediatric disease.
History
Seattle Children's celebrated its Centennial in 2007. More key dates in history.
07 Key Facts and Statistics
Hospital:
- 250 patient beds
- 72,542 individual patient visits
- 12,785 admissions
- 4,839 inpatient surgeries
- 176,608 clinic visits
- 33,773 emergency visits
- 978 medical staff members
- 1,099 nurses
- 3,973 employees
- 1,100 volunteers
- $65.4 M in uncompensated care
Research Institute:
- 278 research staff
- 78 support staff
- 190 investigators
Hospital and Clinic locations:
- Seattle
- Bellevue
- Everett
- Federal Way
- Olympia
- Tri-Cities
Recognition
Children's is ranked 9th nationally for pediatric hospitals by U.S. News and World Report. Children's is also the primary teaching, clinical and research site for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine, which is ranked 7th nationally by U.S. News and World Report.
Children's was named Large Non-profit Employer of the Year by the Washington State Governor's Committee on Disability Issues and Employment.
Children's is home to the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics, the nation's first center devoted exclusively to pediatric bioethics.
In 2007, Seattle Magazine featured 45 Seattle Children's physicians in its annual Top Doctors listing.
Affiliations
Children's, the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center, and the University of Washington form the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA).
Children's is a member of the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI).
Continuous Growth
This year, Children's announced plans to expand facilities on the main campus. The expansion, which includes increasing inpatient beds, will meet the region's growing demand for Children's services while ensuring we continue to provide safe quality care in a healing environment. For more information, please visit the Web site.
Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute opened in Fall 2006 with nine research centers:
- Center for Immunity and Immunotherapies
- Center for Childhood Infections and Prematurity Research
- Center for Tissue and Cell Sciences
- Center for Clinical and Translational Research
- Center for Childhood Cancer (FHCRC)
- Center for Genetics and Development (UW)
- Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development
- Center for Neuroscience
- Center for Developmental Therapeutics
Cutting-edge Procedures/Technology
Drs. Gordon Cohen and Lester Permut became the first cardiac surgeons in the Northwest to implant a mechanical Berlin Heart in a child under age 5. Six weeks later, the physicians successfully performed a heart transplant on the 2-year-old boy.
Children's became the first medical center west of the Mississippi to perform a heart transplant on an infant whose blood type was different than the organ donor's (known as an ABO-mismatched transplant).
Children's established the only small intestine transplant program in the Northwest - and one of only a handful in the country - under the leadership of pioneering surgeon Dr. Jorge Reyes. The first intestinal transplant in the Northwest was completed at Children's in January 2007.
Children's has been using the da Vinci robot to assist with surgery and teaching since April 2006. The technology has benefits over conventional laparoscopic and traditional "open" surgery with reconstructive operations that require very intricate surgical techniques. Benefits include: smaller incisions, minimal scarring, faster recovery and less operative dehydration and blood loss.
Recent Research Accomplishments
Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute conducts groundbreaking research aimed at preventing, treating and eliminating childhood disease.
Seattle's reputation as a leading force in biotechnology attracts the world's best pediatric physicians and scientists to Children's Research Institute. Scientists work in interdisciplinary Research Centers around common thematic focus areas and identifiable sets of core programs.
There are currently over 150 projects based at the hospital supported by nearly $20 million in National Institutes of Health grants in fiscal year 2007. Key research breakthroughs from 2007 include:
- Dr. Andrew Scharenberg and Dr. David Rawlings are the principal investigators on the largest research grant received by Children's in its 100-year history. The $23.7 million grant to study gene repair was awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and will support the Northwest Genome Engineering Consortium, led by Children's in partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
- A study led by Dr. James Olson showed that tumor paint is 500 times better than MRI at helping surgeons distinguish between cancer cells and normal brain tissue. Olson and his team developed the paint, which can be used during surgery, from a scorpion-derived peptide called chlorotoxin.
- Dr. Dimitri Christakis found that playing with toy blocks may lead to improved language development in young children. In a separate study, Christakis showed that while educational videos may hinder language development in infants, they have no positive or negative affect on the vocabularies of toddlers.
- Dr. Daniel Rubens found a strong connection between Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and an abnormality in the inner ear. Rubens' findings may help doctors identify newborns at risk for SIDS by a simple, affordable and routine hearing test administered shortly after birth.
- Dr. Rita Mangione-Smith learned that children in the U.S. fail to get recommended health care more than 50% of the time. The study shows that many children are not receiving preventive care basics, such as regular height and weight measurements, nor are they receiving standard care for common ailments, such as asthma and diarrhea.
Family Centered Care
When a child is hospitalized, the whole family is affected. Our patient care units include amenities to help reduce the inevitable stress of a hospitalization by providing private spaces on each floor for parents to meet with doctors or family members and pull-out couches in each room.
The Family Resource Center provides information and support for patients, families, staff and the community. Child health information is available on specific illnesses and conditions, parenting, growth and development, grief and loss and safety.
Services and facilities are free and include parent massage, vending area with coffee and tea, computers with Internet access, phones, fax, lockers, showers and laundry.
Campaign for Children's
Seattle Children's publicly launched the largest fundraising campaign in the hospital's history in early 2006, announcing an overall target of $300 million for uncompensated care, facility improvements and research. Children's began soliciting support for the seven-year campaign in 2001, and the total is currently more than $321 million. Given that community support makes such an important difference in providing the best care for sick and injured children, the Campaign for Children's will continue through the original end date of Sept. 30, 2008. Learn about more Ways to Help.